


Fake Smiles (Burning Hearts)

by ScarletPotter



Series: Avenger redemption [1]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers - Freeform, Avengers Age Of Ultron - Freeform, Cutting, Depression, I Want to Go Home, I need help, Wanda Is Awesome, Wanda Maximoff & Clint Barton Friendship, Wanda Maximoff & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Wanda Maximoff Needs a Hug, and hopefully infinity war, cause the russoes are mean, help me please, home is gone, i love wanda, leads to civil war, quote: no more mutants, the avengers are going to heal wanda, the avengers care about wanda, the avengers help her, there's more family time, wanda cuts, wanda is depressed, wanda maximoff is hurt, wanda maximoff is sad, wanda maximoff misses pietro, you're safe now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2020-01-20 20:56:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 24,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18533014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletPotter/pseuds/ScarletPotter
Summary: “Hey, I’m with the Avengers. Come with me, I’ll get you to safety.” The woman looked at her in disgust, “I would rather die than obliged to a filthy witch like you. Hopefully, the next threat takes you out first.”“Mutants like Wanda Maximoff cause more pain than good.”“Send them off, kill them off, I don’t care. Get rid of the mutants.”“These Enhanced, they’re mutants. Brutal, coldhearted kills. They’re from HYDRA, they’re bad.”“No more mutants.”Wanda Maximoff first learned pain at the young age of eight years old. She remembers the day so vividly. She was eating dinner with her family, the last time they would all be a big happy family when a large weapon came crashing through their apartment building. The next thing she knew, Pietro had rolled the two of them under the bed. Her parents were gone. So why weren’t they? She had placed her trust in HYDRA, as a refuge, nothing more. After Ultron, Wanda forces herself to deal with the consequences. All of this is her fault, no matter what the Avengers say. The world seems to hate her, wish upon her death. And Wanda can’t help but feel the pain. Despite Wanda’s darkest hour, she has a family of Avengers who is going to keep her safe.





	1. A Guilt Complex

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! My name is Sarah. This is my first time writing on a03! Usually, I write on Wattpad (@the_scarlet_frost). I love Wanda's character and I wanted to add more depth to it. I feel like Marvel brushed up on Wanda grieving over all the loss, her being sad, recovering after Civil War. I feel like Marvel could have written her out much better.

Wanda Maximoff knows how to feel. Every day, every hour, every damn second. She knows how to feel heartbroken from the loss of her parents, angry with a thirst for vengeance against Stark, scared for her life, devastation from losing her best friend who so happened to be her twin brother. If there’s anything Wanda doesn’t know, it’s how not to feel. Call her emotional, but Wanda, she acts on her emotions. It’s what keeps the Scarlet Witch in check. 

She remembers the day like it was yesterday. Wanda Maximoff first learned pain at the young age of eight years old. She remembers the day so vividly. She was eating dinner with her family, the last time they would all be a big happy family when a large weapon came crashing through their apartment building. The next thing she knew, Pietro had rolled the two of them under the bed. Her parents were gone. So why weren’t they? 

Why weren’t they dead?

Why hadn’t the bomb taken them?

These were only some of the questions that surged through Wanda’s mind at what she presumed to be her very last seconds on this planet. But after a few minutes, she opened her eyes back to the grim reality, the one where she was now an orphan. 

So, she was an eight-year-old kid, with only one blood relative left: her older twin brother Pietro. 

The first four years was the hardest. Living on the streets. Scouraging for scraps. They were poor, the Maximoffs, but they fed off of each other’s strength. Something that was incredibly lacking between the only two left. 

Pietro had done his entire best to keep Wanda safe, living up to the older brother, and no, you can’t mess with her. Other kids would have called it annoying, but Wanda, she appreciated it. This was her way of knowing that someone still loved her. Someone still cared about her. 

Then Wanda and Pietro found themselves at HYDRA’s mercy. They only joined because they were promised safety. Anything was better than living in dark alleys where thieves and rapists had lurked every corner. Their safety had also come with the ability for revenge against the man who had murdered their parents: Stark. 

Something that both twins had one desperately. Were it not for Stark, the twins would have been living comfortably in their house, able to feed themselves and live the little lives they had. 

All thoughts coursing through Wanda as the needles inject red vials into her, which courses through her veins, creating a new feeling, one that Wanda has never felt before. Power. And it feels so good. For the first time in fifteen years, Wanda had never felt so good. Pietro, with his ability to move faster than the blink of an eye, shared the feelings. Before they were nothing. Mere children living off of scraps and garbage. But with this, Wanda’s red magic, and Pietro’s speed, the Maximoff’s were something. And they were proud to be. 

Soon, the twins had devised a plan of escape. With their abilities, living would be much easier. 

And then the Avengers attacked. The perfect plan of escape. And it had worked. They had found themselves allied with one who also shared a burning hatred for Stark and his Avengers. So they fought the Avengers, throwing in their punches and kicks. Giving them those dreams had given them a taste of the pain she had lived long with. 

But then Wanda had learned what Ultron’s true intentions were. The plan was to destroy the Avengers, not destroy humanity! What good was a world if there was no one to live on it? So the Maximoffs changed sides. 

Surprisingly, working with the Avengers had given Wanda a burning feeling in her heart. A drive of motivation. She had used her powers to keep the people safe. To make sure all the children were with their parents safe. No one deserved what had happened to them. She wasn’t going to let war take more children. 

But it did. War took Pietro Maximoff. He jumped in to save the archer and the little boy. He really was a hero. Wanda didn’t see the pain, but she felt it. Oh, how she felt the bullets graze and enter his body as if they were entering her own. She felt the same pain he did. She didn’t even get to say goodbye. Or how much she had loved him. 

So, now, here she is on a jet with the Avengers. She turns away any type of approach. She needs to be alone right now. She imagines throwing a red ball into the wall and the satisfaction it would bring. But it would only cause trouble. She falls to her knees once again, crying out in anguish. Her heart feels broken. Maybe it is.


	2. Pained Hearts tell No Lies.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda learns that just maybe, the Avengers really do care about her. 
> 
> Hint: They do.

There’s a knock on the door. Wanda quickly wipes at her face and then opens the door. The Black Widow is on the other side with a sorrowed expression on her face. Sorrow. Pity. She asks gently, “I know we didn’t start off on the right foot, but how are you holding up?” The Widow is right, they most certainly did not start off on the right foot, but she sees the Widow’s mind radiating genuine kindness and sympathy. Perhaps, she really does want to help her. Wanda looks down, not feeling worthy to make eye contact with the famous ex-assassin. Natasha gently takes Wanda’s hands and showing a side that the world hardly sees. She gently smiles, speaking confidently, “I know it hurts, I’ve had my own taste of loss. But it gets better. Widow’s promise.” Wanda nods, speaking dryly to hide the tears pooling in her eyes. “Thank you,.” Natasha lightly chuckles, “You can call me Natasha.” Wanda corrects herself, “Thank you, Natasha. Really.” Natasha nods, “If you need anything, anything at all, just ask alright? We ladies got to stick together.” The last bit gets a chuckle out of Wanda. Natasha smiles tightly before gently closing the door to give the young witch privacy. 

Wanda slowly slumps to the floor before breaking into sobs. As great as having a friend is, she’s all alone. Heck, she would be considered a criminal. She aided Ultron, attacked the Avengers. She harshly whispers, “I wouldn’t be surprised if when we land they lock me in a cell.” More tears spill down Wanda’s grime-filled face. She’s all alone. She doesn’t want to be locked up. She’s claustrobiphic, something only Pietro knew. 

She heaved as more sobs escaped her crimson colored lips. She buried her head in her hands, not bothering her muffle her sobs as she sobbed out for her lost brother. Her twin. Her other half. Her better half. Pietro was full of life, energetic, lively. He was enjoyable. She wasn’t. She was the girl who sat in the corner of a room away from the social interaction. Pietro was one of the cool kids. Pietro was always there for guidance, and now right when she needed the most, it was gone. Stripped away. She couldn’t fight back. Why couldn’t it be her? She didn’t deserve to live. Pietro did. She continued to sob until she felt like she was going to throw up. There was another knock on the door. Wanda gently opened it. The Archer. 

The Hawkeye offered a slight smile, along with his condolences, “I’m so sorry. He shouldn’t have saved me. It’s my fault.” Wanda shook her head, speaking tightly, “No, please, no. It’s not your fault. If anyone it’s my fault. If I hadn’t been too eager to help Ultron none of this would have happened.” It was the Archer’s turn to shake his head. “No Wanda, it’s not your fault. You’re just a kid.” Wanda muttered as tears began to pool in her eyes, “Doesn’t justify any of what I did.” Clint shook his head, “You were a kid, who was an orphan who was desperate for help. You did what you thought was best. What other options did you have?” He held his arms out for what Wanda would assume to be an embrace. Wanda leaned into the Archer’s chest. He let her tuck her head in the crook of his neck. Everyone needed a shoulder to cry on. Clint knew that all too well. Clint gently patted Wanda’s back, “It’s alright.” Wanda whispered just loud enough, “I never got to say goodbye.” Clint nodded, “I know, and I’m so sorry for that. Neither of you two deserve death.” Wanda whispered once again, “Thank you. I haven’t been nice to you at all but you’re so kind to me.” Clint waved it off, “As I said before, you were misguided, we’ll help you. You’ll be staying with us. We won’t have it any other way.” Wanda nodded, letting the Archer “drag” her to sit with the rest of the team. 

Perhaps the Avengers would be able to help her.   
As genuine as they seemed to be, the dark part of her mind was telling her that they didn’t care. But maybe, just maybe, they did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did you guys think? Make sure to leave kudos! :)


	3. Burning Bridges and Orange Skies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Missing Pietro hours.

Wanda followed the Hawkeye to the main area. Her mind begged her to return to the little room. She would have privacy there. No one to look at her, no one to judge her. Being with the Avengers who either hated her or pitied her, perhaps both was enough to form bile in her throat. 

She kept her eyes downcast, not wanting to draw any attention to herself. The jet was still a good few hours from America. Funny, she and Pietro had always wanted to go to America. Just not like this. 

The Avengers noticed her presence and offered her sympathetic looks. Even Stark did. It was strange, just forty-eight hours ago she had a burning hatred for the Avengers. Her bridges with Ultron and HYDRA are burnt. And a bridge with the Avengers was formed. And now they were on the same side. At least hopefully. The witch knew for a fact that at least the Black Widow and the Hawkeye had placed their trust in her. Hawkeye led her to a seat by a glass panel wall, letting her take a seat and handing her a red color blanket. The archer had a teasing smile on his face. “What?” “Scarlet Witch needs a scarlet blanket.” “Oh haha.” Hawkeye still had a smirk on his face as he said, “I have a purple one. Now get some rest while you can, we still have about five hours to go.” Wanda nodded, draping the scarlet colored blanket over her form.

She curiously looked over the window, examining the sky. The sky looked so majestic, hues of pinks, purples, blues, and oranges were all mixed together in such a vibrant pattern. It was beautiful. Pietro would have loved it. 

Pietro. Her head slightly tilted. She tried to imagine it, Pietro sitting by her side enjoying the sky. It was something that she had never seen before, and something for sure that she would never forget. 

She sighed gently, whispering gently to herself, “Might as well get some sleep.” She pulled the blanket closer to her chin as the shades of pinks and oranges lured her to sleep. 

She woke up to the gentle nudging from the Hawkeye, “We’re about to land, so you might want to get ready. Tony’s not the best lander.” Tony who had heard that mocked offense, “Are you insulting FRIDAY?” Clint just smiled, “FRIDAY is, you aren’t.” Wanda chuckled as the two Avengers argued. 

When they landed, they were greeted by bold sunshine. Wanda didn’t like it. Everyone cheered for them, praised them. Calling them heroes. Asking for their autograph. They had looked at her, a new person with confusion. Wanda didn’t know what to do so she just kept her eyes downcast and followed the rest of the Avengers. Someone tugged on her sleeve. Wanda turned to see a small child, no more than ten years old. She asked, “Miss, are you an Avenger too?” Wanda didn’t know what to say. Was she? She fought with them, but that doesn’t make her one. Luckily for her, the Black Widow came to her rescue. 

Natasha smiled, having a certain fondness for children, “Yes she is.” The child’s eyes lit up with awe and Wanda would have lied if she said that she didn’t feel her heart warm up. Natasha slowly led her to the rest of the Avengers. The Widow asked, “You alright? You kind of froze back there.” Wanda replied, “I didn’t know how to answer the question.” Natasha smiled, “Both you and your brothers are Avengers. You fight with us, you’re one of us. Alright, Scarlet Witch?” Wanda nodded, “Thank you.” Natasha had wrapped an arm around her new friend, “What did I tell you, we ladies got to stick together.”

Wanda smiled, doing her best to keep her dark thoughts at bay, she was going to enjoy this.


	4. Pain, you make me a believer (believer)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda learns that Natasha really does care about her.

As much as Wanda tried to focus on the positive, she couldn’t ignore the dark thoughts that were crawling through her mind. 

They don’t like you. You’re a criminal, how could they?

You’re weird, unnatural, you’re not like them. Why would they like you?

I bet that soon they’ll send you off to the government to lock you up for good. 

I bet they’re happy that Pietro died. Now they wait for your turn. 

They don’t really care. They just want to get rid of you. 

You? An Avenger? Please! You’re an orphan! Heck, you’re not even eighteen! You’re aren’t an Avenger! You are no hero! You only bring destruction and chaos wherever you go!

Don’t you get it?

Wanda unconsciously shook her head trying to drown the dark thoughts. Natasha noticed that something was wrong asking, “You sure you’re alright? The Tower is just a block away. Are the people too much?” Wanda shook her head, smiling tightly, “No, no, I’m fine. Thank you Natasha.” 

Just keep putting on that fake smile. 

Not entirely convinced by Wanda, Natasha nodded. She knew that Wanda wasn’t okay. I mean, it had been a heck of a weekend. Becoming a human experiment, and then joining someone who you thought was good and having to fight with the people you hate must be pretty hard. She knows. At the Red Room, they brainwashed her into believing that she was nothing. Which she was. The Red Room molded her like clay to be strategic, to be smart, to play innocent, to fight. Imagine her finding out that the Red Room was secretly an organization who wanted to train females to kill each other, so that there would be none left. Imagine finding out that the KGB, where she was recruited by, only wanted her because she was a valuable asset. Little did she know that if she didn’t join them, Natasha Romanova would exist no more. And on top of that, to lose the one person that they were ever really close to. Natasha knows it. Natasha had one friend in the Red Room. Alivana Van Dane. 

Alivana was one of the kindest people Natasha had ever known. The only nice one. Natasha remembers her dirty blonde locks that went up to her waist. Her freckled face with contagious laughter. She was the one who always stuck by her side. She wasn’t jealous of Natasha’s success, if anything it was the other way around. Natasha was envious that Alivana was easy to become friends with. Alivana was enjoyable. Most of the girls liked her a lot, despite them all being opponents. The two were quite the team. Very dangerous as a team. If looks could kill, everyone who they came in contact with would be dead. 

Then came the fateful night. April 26th 1990. Natasha was nineteen, Alivana eighteen. They were instructed to spar against each other. Little did they know that this really was a test. This was all part of their graduation steps. Each pupil had to be isolated, fully independent. No room for alliances or bonds. They had to be broken. During the spar, Natasha had lunged at her friend, sending her to the ground within minutes. Alivana rose up to lunge but then froze. There was a “bang”. Natasha looked around, who had fired the pistol? Alivana began to break into hacks, as more bullets pierced her soft skin. 

Natasha had caught her friend as she sputtered for what would be the last few minutes of her life. Natasha remembered holding her best friend as the life drained from her eyes. Natasha was angry. Oh, she was enraged. They had killed Alivana, the one person who had meant something to her. Killed her as if she was some piece of garbage. 

One of the headmasters spoke, “Natalia, ty znayesh' luchshe. Net obligatsiy. Vy vse vragi. Chtoby byt' v svoikh luchshikh proyavleniyakh, vy dolzhny uchit'sya, bez vlozheniy. Oni tol'ko v konechnom itoge ukusyat vas v spinu. I ty ne vernesh'sya. Ponimayu?”

Natalia, you know better. No bonds. You are all enemies. To be at your best you must learn, no attachments. They will only end up to bite you in the back. And you won't get back up. Understand?

And that had become Natasha’s lifestyle. No attachments. The one that she had made had hurt her bad. It motivated her to fight harder, be her very best for the KBG. The Avengers were her friends, bonds that would never be broken, bridges that would never be burned. She wasn’t fond of Wanda at all in the beginning. She was some HYDRA con with vengeance. But she noticed how she and her brother had acted. Closer than close. They were inseparable. Wanda losing Pietro must have broken her. She saw her break down, the agonizing cry as she lost control of her abilities, red hurtling into the air. She didn’t even try to get to the jet. It was almost as if she had accepted death. Wanda was hurting, she was in pain. And pain tended to bring the worst out of people. 

Once they got inside the Tower, Natasha led Wanda to a spare room with some female clothing and hygiene products. Wanda looked surprised, “Oh! This can’t be for me, this is too much. Really. This is all for me?” She sounded like a child. Then Natasha remembered, she still was. Sixteen years old. That’s what the file had said. Sixteen years old and to experience things no one should have to. 

Wanda whispered, “I never had a room all to myself. Not one like this.” Hearing the brokenness in her voice, Natasha pulled Wanda in for a hug. She asked gently, “Do you want to talk about it?” Wanda spoke, “I just, miss him so much. He was always there for me. And now I’m alone. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. I don’t want to get locked up in some cell. I don’t want to die.”

Natasha listened to Wanda as she pleaded. She nodded understandingly. “I understand. Really. And hey, you’re not alone. You have me. No one is going to lock you in a cell. You are going to stay with us, the Avengers, here at the Tower. You’re an Avenger now. You fight with us, you’re one of us. We’ll help you alright? Trust me, if anyone understands loss, it’s us. It’s what keeps us fighting. It’s why we avenge. You’re not going to die, you’re safe. We’re going to protect you alright?” Wanda noticed the confident tone of Natasha. Natasha. She usually addressed her as the Black Widow. But calling her Natasha seemed more comfortable. She asked hope threatening to glisten in her eyes, “Promise?” Natasha nodded pulling the young girl into her arms, “Widow’s promise.”

And Wanda smiled at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how did you guys like the little bit of a backstory I wrote for Natasha? I introduced some of Wanda's doubts in this chapter and I'm going to explore them more in the next few chapters. And soon the Avengers are going to see how much Wanda really needs them. I'm super excited to write them.
> 
> I'm planning on writing this as it takes place just after Ultron through Civil War (yikes) and then through Infinity War (double-yikes) and then Endgame (depending on what happens)


	5. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda learns that Clint Barton also has her back.

Natasha left a little while later to let Wanda get comfortable. Wanda was still surprised at the generosity of the Avengers. They were so kind, so forgiving to her even though she didn’t deserve any of it. Perhaps they just felt bad. Or maybe they cared. 

The room was so big! The room bigger than the five times the room she and Pietro used to share back in Sokovia. The walls were a deep crimson red that seemed aesthetically soothing. It made her feel the tiniest bit better. 

She opened the wardrobe which was already filled with some clothing. When did Stark even have time to get these? And somehow they were her size. She really had to thank Stark next time. He isn’t close to as bad as the media portrays him as. 

The room brought comfort, a sense of serenity. Wanda liked it. She yawned as she sank into the impossibly soft covers. A little nap wouldn’t hurt. Within minutes, Wanda was asleep. 

Within the realm of darkness, she was instantly transported back to Sokovia. She was standing guard of the Core, which was the only thing that kept humanity alive. Pietro, her Pietro had insisted on staying with her. Wanda lightly chuckled, ordering him to follow the Captain’s orders. Pietro had laughed using that same defensive line again, “You know, I’m twelve minutes older than you.” She had chuckled then, “Go!” Pietro had zoomed away for what would have been their last encounter. 

The scene immediately flashed. She was blasting robots when she was overtaken by a vision. She could feel the bullets graze Pietro’s body as if grazing her own. She could feel the bullets cause damage and quickly kill him. Silence. He had stood there at the shocked Hawkeye who was very much surprised to be alive. He cocked in his Sokovian accent, “You didn’t see that coming.” And then his legs gave way as he slumped to the ground covered in blood. The scene wouldn’t change. She was stuck at looking at his body, eyes open and glossy but no life flickering in it. She was stuck looking at his still unmoving bloody body. She wants to scream, she wants to cry. Why must she be tortured in this way? She tries to shut her eyes but even with that, the sight of her dead brother is still fresh in her head. 

Something was gently shaking her but she didn’t know what. A gentle voice called out to her, “Wanda, wake up!” She shook her head. The voice was still gentle only a tad bit louder, “Kid, wake up.” Whoever it was gently shook which woke her. She startled clutching the person who had woken. It was Hawkeye. He gently stroked her back, guiding her head to the crook of his neck. Hawkeye gently explained, “I have kids. I know how this works. Ssh, you’re alright. It was just a dream.” Wanda shook her head, “It was all over again. He was dead and I couldn’t do anything, but watch.” She buried her head in Clint’s strong and sturdy shoulder and cried. Clint gently rocked her back and forth, after all, Wanda was still a kid. A kid who didn’t deserve all this shit.   
Clint gently shushed her, “Hey, it’s alright. I know it hurts like a bitch. He wouldn’t want you to be this sad. He would want you to hold your head high and carry on.” Wanda replied, “I feel so lost without him. He was always there. Someone I could talk to, get advice on. When our parents first died.” She paused to swallow. “He protected me. Even though we were the same age, both eight years old he took it upon himself to keep the two of us safe. He was like a father, but he was also my best friend.” Clint nodded, letting Wanda finish. “And now without him, I don’t know what I’m going to do.” Clint let her relax into his hold, “Hey, we’ll take it a day at a time alright? I know, coming from Sokovia and now you’re here. I would be the same way. It’s alright. We’re here. Just breathe alright?” Wanda nodded, inhaling, counting to three then exhaling. She did this three more times. “It’s just, I miss him so much. He was my other half. We did everything together.” Clint nodded, “I get you.” Wanda added, “It’s like everything I do I can’t help but imagine him here with me.” Clint nodded, “Well, he is here with you. In your heart. You have to know that he might not physically be here, but mentally he is. He’s in Heaven watching over you Wanda. He’s still going to protect you. In the little time that I knew him, he really did care about you.” Wanda nodded, taking the Hawkeye’s words to heart. Hawkeye offered, “Would you like for me to stay with you as you rest?” Wanda nodded, “You don’t have to.” Hawkeye gave a fatherly smile, “Wanda, you’re forgetting, I have two kids. I know how this works.” Wanda lightly chuckled as she slid back under the covers this time thinking of how Clint acted a lot like Pietro. 

Wanda fell into a dreamless sleep and would flinch anytime something relating to Pietro or Ultron formed. Wanda was entirely grateful that Clint stayed by her side, lightly humming, doing little things to remind her that she was safe. And it was the sweetest thing. 

But the thing about pain, it demands to be felt.


	6. The thing about pain, it demands to always be felt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda learns a substitution to the mental pain, physical pain. 
> 
> Attempted cutting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanda cuts and if this triggers you in any way, please do not read this. Thank you so much!

The rest of the day went on pretty okay until it was time to go back to bed. Wanda did her best to keep off the demons that were knocking on the walls of her heart. They hate you, what are you still doing here?

Wanda shook off the thoughts, trying her very best to focus on the positive. You’re alright, you have friends.

Wanda trudged forward towards the dining room (I think?) seeing all the Avengers setting up the table. They looked like a family, a dysfunctional family, but a family. 

Steve acted a lot like a father or a mother? He was laughing, handing out dishes, slightly remprimanding Tony who was trying to sneak some cake onto his plate. Steve retorted, “Tony! You have to share!” The Iron Man, who was formerly addressed as Tony replied, “We can make more cake! It’s food, it’s meant to be made. C’mon! I’m hungry!” Thor slapped his hand across Steve’s back making him wince, “Come, let us fetch the girl and feast!” 

Natasha gave Wanda a warm smile and handed her a plate, “Take whatever you want. And don’t worry about there not being enough, we’re all pigs here.” Wanda lightly chuckled, sounding very familiar to a platinum-blonde speedster. 

Wanda took very little, not feeling very hungry. She was in pain and eating was just going to make her throw up. She didn’t want to show up, but she didn’t want to let the team down, not when they had been so kind to her. Steve gave her a motherly look, “Wanda, take some more.” Wanda gently shook her head, “I’m good Steve, really.” She kept her eyes on the plate, trying to ignore Clint’s fatherly look. 

Steve nodded, “Alright, if you’re hungry just take some.” Wanda nodded, knowing that she wouldn’t take. She hardly spoke, unsure of when she should speak, being a misfit in a team of outcast. She wasn’t sure how to start a conversation, let alone carry one. Especially with the Avengers. 

She laughed at their jokes, even though she didn’t fully understand the concept behind it. She put on an engaging face, looking at whoever was talking, but not at their eyes. It would be rude, disrespectful, to look into someone like the Avengers. She didn’t deserve anything from them, but they insisted on making her feel welcome. 

She offered to do the dishes, but Steve waved her off telling her to get some rest. Something about having to go back to Sokovia to clean up their mess. Steve had pointed out, “After all, we have to clean up our mess.” Were it not for the kind look in Steve’s eyes, she would have thought that he was taking a jab at her. Were it not for the kind look in his eyes. 

Wanda politely nodded and retreated back to her room. She was going to go back to Sokovia? The place of her birth, the place where she lost her parents, the place where she lost her brother? The brother whose funeral was soon. She accidentally saw Tony’s plans. It wasn’t her fault, she couldn’t plan it, nor could she afford it or would be able to mentally. 

She hugged her knees, slightly rocking herself as tears streamed down her pale face. Her dark black tresses made it’s way across her face, limiting her sight but she didn’t care. She let muffled cries escape her cherry pink lips as she shook and cried. It hurt. So much. 

Too much. 

There was just so much pain! It hurt and it hurt and it hurt. It burned. It burned so much. She wanted to bang her head on the wall. Maybe it would hurt less. She needed something to take the mental pain away. Something physical.

She spotted the razor blades on the sink and a dark idea formed in her head. I mean, physical pain after all? She gets up and approaches the bathroom, still contemplating just what she is about to do. Wanda holds the razor in her hand. She gently slides it against her wrist, watching as the skin opens and the blood seeps out. And another cut. And another cut. She then proceeds to do the same to her other wrist, making the cuts just light enough for her to see. After a few minutes, she releases the razor into the trash can and wraps some bandages over the cuts to stop the bleeding. 

And somehow, it works. She doesn’t feel anything, the pain, instead she feels numb. But it still hurts. It hurts to feel an empty void in her as if she had no soul as if she were nothing. Which she felt. As if she was completely nothing. But it satisfies the ache in her bones and the flame that sparks in her heart. She should be ashamed, and feel guilty, but for some reason, she doesn’t. She only feels nothing, just the numbness overtake her, and for once, Wanda doesn’t try to fight it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all liked this! Be sure to leave kudos!  
> Did Endgame break you too?


	7. In the morning, the pain still comes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda struggles with the concept of going back to Sokovia

Wanda fell into a dreamless sleep, of black. But she kept waking up. Different thoughts came to haunt her, preventing her from escaping from the grim reality. She tossed and turned trying her utter best to fall asleep. 

She thought bitterly, Was this some sort of reparament, from all her sins?

Or was this just to rub in her face?

 

After some time, Wanda simply gave up, sighing in frustration as she threw her head back against the pillows, trying to find a comfortable pose. But she couldn’t. She walked around her room a few times, but she still couldn’t fall asleep. Maybe if she cut a bit more, her body would be forced to fall asleep.

And that’s exactly what Wanda did. 

Wanda cut until her wrists bled through the banadages, and she welcomed the unconsciousness. 

That morning, when she woke up, she was greeted by her stinging wrists. She hissed out in pain. She had to cover up her wrists or else the others would find out. She used a lighter tone of bandages and put on a long-sleeved sweatshirt that went way past her wrists. She lightly smiled, this would work. 

She was greeted by the happy smiles, and the sympathetic smiles of the Avengers as Thor thrusted a plate into her hands, ordering her to eat like there was no tomorrow. Steve chuckled at Wanda’s “terrified” face easing her worries, “Ignore him, he eats like a pig. Have some, it’s good.”

Wanda took some scrambled eggs, and despite her stomach, found it really good. She was enjoying her day when Steve gently spoke, “We have to go back to Sokovia.” Wanda could have dropped her fork. Actually, she did. Clint handed her a new one, and Natasha placed a comforting hand on her thigh. 

Steve gently explained, “We made the mess, it’s only right that we should clean it up. All of us.” Wanda liked how he didn’t just look at her, but all of them, as if they were soldiers in line, and he was the Captain pacing about. Come to think of it, they kinda were. 

Steve sensed the thoughts jumbling around the young witch’s mind speaking, “Just to clean up. Just for today.” Wanda nodded, and resumed eating to fend off any worries or concerns. She could do this, right?

Wrong. Her mind was screaming at her, her stomach was begging her not to go, but she had too. After all, she had long grown up with the belief that the Avengers had just made their mess, and went home. That they didn’t care about the remnants, the people who were caught in the mess. But she was wrong. 

She had to go. It was her duty. 

Not because she was an Avenger. Was she one though? But because she was Sokovian. Which made it harder for her to go back. 

Sokovia was where the Maximoff twins were born. Sokovia was where the Maximoff twins went to school. Sokovia was where the Maximoff twins became orphans. Sokovia was where the Maximoff twins signed up for the event that would drastically change his life. Sokovia was also the place where the Maximoff twins, became, the Maximoff. 

She couldn’t go back there. She didn’t see Pietro, as he slumped to the ground. Battered with red, body filled with bullet holes, as the light died from his eyes. She didn’t hear him tell Clint, “You didn’t see that coming” in his thick Sokovian accent that had always made her feel better. But she felt it. She felt the pain rippling through her body as each bullet entered Pietro, as if entering her own. She felt the oxygen leave his lungs, as if leaving her own. She felt the conscious of his mind drop, as he collapsed. But, she felt the impact of his body hitting the cold, unforgiving ground. And it hurt. It scarred. Terribly. 

She was all dressed now, Natasha’s red leather jacket draped across her shoulders with the amyeristh gem that hung from her neck loosely, matching with her inky black leggings. She hadn’t bothered to remove the rings from her fingers, they were too important. Pietro had gotten them for her, and the weight without them was unbearable. 

She was going to Sokovia, for better or for worse.


	8. I can do this

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to head to Sokovia. 
> 
> TW: Panic attack

Wanda breathed in and out heavily, trying to keep her composure. There was a knock on the door. Wanda mentally groaned, the last thing she wanted was to be seen during her panic. Whoever knocked must have sensed something was wrong because they forced open the door. Wanda recognized the person as Clint. 

 

Clint took one look at the situation and immediately crouched on his knees. He gently clasped her trembling hands, wrapping his warm yet firm fingers on the Witch’s cold and shaky digits. He spoke gently, worry shining through his milk chocolate irises. Clint spoke gently, “Hey, Wands, you’re alright. You’re safe.” His eyebrows creased in worry as lips curled into a frown. He didn’t know how to best handle the situation, after all, he didn’t even know what was causing it. 

 

FRIDAY came to the rescue, “It appears Miss Maximoff is experiencing a level two panic attack about returning to her homeland.” Clint nodded, he could fix this. Hopefully. 

 

Clint spoke gently as he used his thumbs to rub against her wrists to start to calm her down. He kept his voice low and steady, “Wands, I need you to breathe with me alright?” Panicked Wanda nodded, fear and desperation shining through her eyes. Clint continued, “I need you to listen to me alright? Your name is Wanda Maximoff. You are sixteen years old. I am Clint Barton. I am not telling you how old I am. You listening?” Wanda nodded, and despite the fear slightly dying down, he gripped her wrists tightly. 

 

The archer continued, “You are at the Avengers Tower. You are safe. No one is going to hurt you. The Avengers care about you. You are strong, and you can get through anything. Still listening?” Wanda nodded, and her eyes were close to normal. Dad instincts kicking in, Clint pulled the sixteen-year-old to his chest, gently rubbing her back. Clint murmured gently, “You’re alright. I’m right here okay?”

 

Wanda nodded, whispering tightly as she buried her head against his soft shoulder, “Thank you, Clint.”

 

Clint shook his head, “I’m a father, I take care of all the kiddies.”

 

Wanda lightly chuckled and her voice was in his head, “I am not a kiddie!”

 

Clint chuckled, “Sure you aren’t.”

 

A little bit later, Clint shifted, “Wanda, we have to go now.” Wanda immediately tensed. Clint nodded, “Listen, you’re going to be okay. We’re all going to get through this together. Tell you what, the second it gets too much you come and find me alright? At least try?” Wanda nodded, slowly getting up. 

 

She would try, not for herself, but for Clint. 

 

She could do this. She could do this. 

 

That was all she was telling herself on the Quinjet as worry and dread grew in the pit of her stomach as they advanced towards her home country. 

 

She could do this. She had to. For Pietro. 

  
  


_ For Pietro. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super sorry about the short chapter, I wanted to make the jouney to Sokovia it's own chapter for special reasons. 
> 
> Also, super sorry for the long update.
> 
> -Sarah


	9. Sokovia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda goes to Sokovia and learns that people don't share the same view on her as the Avengers do. 
> 
> TW: Cutting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry about the long update, I was busy with graduation stuff! 
> 
> So basically this chapter is about where Wanda returns to Sokovia with the Avengers to help out with the cleanup after Ultron. Wanda attempts to help out a woman who in turn, has not the nicest things to say about Wanda. 
> 
> TW: Cutting and a low-form of dissociation. 
> 
> Other than that let's get on with it.

Wanda hummed on the jet, doing everything she possibly could to calm herself down. The voice of the Captain lured her back into reality. 

 

“Alright so here’s the plan. Tony and Rhodey will be our eyes from the skies, spot for anything suspicious, or alive. Thor, Vision, take the south side and work your way up. Clint, Nat, and Wanda, you’re doing cleanup with me.” 

 

Everyone nodded, Wanda included, as they sat in their individual, somewhat comfortable silence. 

 

The moment the jet landed, the teams were set. So far it was going well on all sides. Wanda used her powers to lift the bricks and rocks off the houses and searched for any of the living Sokovians.

 

Sokovia was, a  _ mess _ . To put it lightly. It didn’t look much like a country, and in no way did it resemble what it used to be. Sokovia was never a great country, it was the fifth poorest country on the planet, but before this, all of this, Sokovia used to be beautiful. At least in Wanda’s eyes. 

 

She focused on completing the mission, which helped keep all of her worries at bay. 

 

She saw something, someone still alive in one of the burnt shacks. She charged towards it, using her abilities to create red tendrils that lifted the shack off its foundation and gently set onto the side of rubble. She noticed a woman and two children. The woman was using her body as a shelter for the two children. The older one, a boy with crisp auburn hair was holding his younger sister tight, reassuring her that they were going to be okay. 

 

_ Flashback: _

 

_ Wanda had taken her seat at the table, right next to her brother as they waited for their mother to put their food on the table. Her father was seated right across from them, leafing through the pages of the daily newspaper.  _

 

_ He asked kindly in their Slovak language,  _ _ Čo teda vy dvaja robíte dnes?  _

 

_ So what did the two of you do today? _

 

_ Wanda responded as she saw that her mother had made her favorite dish, Ja a Pietro sme sa vydali na dobrodružstvo do knižnice. Nechcel prísť najprv, ale potom Mama povedala, že nemôžem ísť sama.  _

 

_ Me and Pietro went on an adventure to the library. He didn't want to come at first but then Mama said that I couldn't go alone.  _

 

_ Mother had served the food and the house was filled with silence as the Maximoffs ate. If only they knew that this would be their last meal together as a family.  _

 

_ Then came a loud banging sound and all the lights on their block, in their little town went out. Wanda tensed up cautiously looking out the window unsure of what exactly was happening.  _

 

_ Her father had reassured her, Nebojte sa. To nie je nič. Pravdepodobne len stavebná firma znova.  _

 

_ Don't worry. It's nothing. Probably just the construction company again.  _

 

_ Wanda nodded, using her father’s words to reassure herself. But that’s when a loud crash came in and something tore right through their little house. Wanda froze in fear and Pietro acted quickly, grabbing her and rolling her under the table. They saw what had happened. Their beautiful house was all dirty now, more gray and ashen. A large white thing had crashed into their roof, with two, unmistakable words on it. Stark Industries. She then saw her parents right under the missile, with blood oozing out of her heads. Pietro was holding her tight, comforting her that everything was going to be okay.  _

 

Wanda took a sharp breath, ignoring the two close parallels as she approached the woman. She spoke kindly, a light confident smile forming, “It’s alright. I’ll get you out of here. I’m with the Avengers, we’ll get you to safety. 

 

She reached out to the woman who drew her arms back sharply. Wanda looked confused sharing looks with the Captain and Clint who wore the same expressions as her. Wanda tried to reason, “I’m not going to hurt you, I’m with the Avengers. We’re good guys.”

 

The woman sneered at her, “I know who the Avengers are. And you are no Avenger.” She set her children down but they remained limp.  That’s when Wanda realized, her children were dead.  _ Just like Pietro. _

 

The woman stood up, approaching her with a venomous look, “You are not an Avenger!  You sided with the enemy, you sided with the Ultron! You, you monster!” Her voice was getting louder and louder by the word, “You are no hero! You’re nothing but a monster! How could you let this happen! Your own country!”

 

Wanda did her best to ignore the words, holding her arms out indicating that she meant no harm. She kept her eyes downcast, “Just come with me, and we’ll get you to safety.” The woman sat back down indicating that she wasn’t going to listen to the witch. She spat,  I would rather die than obliged to a _filthy witch_ like you. Hopefully, the next threat takes you out first!” Wanda felt the tears pool her eyes. The Captain was already approaching them but Wanda spoke in a whisper, “I lost someone too.” The woman laughed with pure venom, “Good! That’s what you get!”

 

The Captain was now gently guiding Wanda back. Wanda didn’t meet his eyes and let him approach the woman who eagerly took his help. Wanda saddened, looking away. 

 

Everything was fuzzy except for the repeat of the woman’s cruel words. 

 

_ You are no Avenger! _

 

_ You sided with the enemy! _

 

_ You monster! _

 

_ How could you?! _

 

_ I’d would rather die than oblige to a filthy witch like you! _

 

_ Filthy witch! _

 

_ I lost someone too, that’s what you get! _

 

Perhaps she was right though. She noticed the children’s blood all over the floor. All this blood was on her hands.

 

She sank to her knees, burying her face in her hands. She knew it! She knew she shouldn’t have gone to Sokovia! Someone was gently prodding her, telling her that the woman was wrong. Wanda peeked up and let the archer guide her to her feet. 

 

Clint had a soft expression on his face, he too had heard what the woman had to say about Wanda. He guided her into his arms carding the tips of her hair, “Hey, hey, don’t listen to what she said. She’s wrong. You know that. You had no way of knowing, and once you did, you made the right call.” Wanda remained emotionless as she shrugged her shoulders. She felt numb as her brain only focused on what the woman had said. 

 

She had blocked everything out until they got to the jet. She remained in her seat, not speaking to anyone unless the conversation was being directed at her.  _ Filthy witches _ didn’t deserve to be talked to.  _ Filthy witches _ didn’t deserve to be here, safe while her country was in ruins.  _ Filthy witches _ didn’t deserve to be Avengers. 

 

Someone was talking to her but it sounded fuzzy. The same person grasped her arm sending her back into reality. It was Natasha. 

 

Natasha asked carefully, “Wanda are you okay?”

 

_ No I’m not! I went from a prisoner of HYDRA, to an unknowing accomplice in the plan to wipe out the entire human race to I don’t even know what! I lost my brother, the one thing that kept me sane for all of my sixteen years of life! I feel so guilty and sad and so damn scared! I shouldn’t be here with any of you, being treated as an Avenger when I know I’m not worth it! The whole world knows that Wanda Maximoff is no hero! If anything, she’s a bad guy, or should I say, filthy witch! I feel so hated and the only person who can make it better is gone! Every damn time I close my eyes I see him. I see and feel the bullets penetrate his body as if it were my own. I can still feel his heart stop as if it were mine!  _ _ I can still feel his body collapsing to the ground, as if it were my own. It hurts so so much and there’s nothing I can do! _

 

Natasha repeated her question once again, “Wanda, are you okay?” 

 

The other Avengers were now looking at her worriedly. She hastily responded with a fake smile and a  shrug of her shoulders, “Yeah, I’m fine.” Natasha gave her a look as if she didn’t believe her but left her alone anyway. She wished Natasha would keep talking to her, the little time she spent asking her a question kept the demons out of her head for a few good short-lived seconds. 

 

The other Avengers resumed in their own conversations which the young witch paid no mind to. She hugged her knees tight, closing her eyes trying her very best not to think of what that woman had to say. 

 

But there was one thing that the young witch knew: that woman was right about what she had said. 

 

…

 

When the Quinjet landed, Wanda shakily returned to her room. Her room was like her safe spot, it was her little retreat area. A place where she could freely cry as much as she possibly could. 

 

And that’s exactly what Wanda did the second she closed her door shut. 

 

She sank to her knees and cried out her small aching heart out. She cried and cried until she felt like she was going to be sick. Her cheeks were red and sullen and her body felt numb and tired. Thing was, every time she closed her eyes she was haunted by her brother’s dead body. 

 

She just couldn’t take it. She searched for something sharp, a razor blade and pressed it against her pale skin. Slowly the emotional pain melted away and was replaced by physical pain. And physical pain was something the exhausted sixteen-year-old witch could deal with. 

 

Wanda trudged to her bed, with its blood-red covers and her body wore out into sleep. 

 


	10. The world isn't kind my darling, but the sun will still shine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda goes on a mission and learns that sometimes the press isn't very nice to heroes. She also gains more Avenger experience. 
> 
> TW: attempted cutting and that's it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a few months of editing and rewriting, here is the tenth chapter! Soon, the Avengers will find out about Wanda's cutting and just how hurt she is.

When Wanda woke the next morning all she felt was the repetition of the harsh words said by the Sokovian woman. Which made Wanda wonder, who else agreed with her?

 

There was a knock at the door calling her for breakfast. Wanda didn’t feel up for it, but if she didn’t the Avengers would worry more and just didn’t want to deal with things. So she begrudgingly opened the door to Natasha. 

 

Natasha spoke softly, “Breakfast is ready.” She noticed red puffy eyes and a quivered lip which indicated that Wanda had been crying for some time. She added, “If you’re up for it.” Wanda nodded, too quickly Natasha noticed saying in a tight voice as if she was straining herself not to cry, “Yeah, I’ll be down in five minutes I just got to change.” Natasha gave her a coy smile, “You know that I’m in my pajamas, we eat in our PJs, I assure you we can be a normal family. Dysfunctional, but functional at times.” Wanda let out a watery giggle and stepped into the hallway as she gently shut the door behind her. 

 

She followed Natasha keeping a smile on that didn’t come close to how she was feeling on the inside,  but she needs to convince the others that she was okay. But she wasn’t. And she didn’t know that Clint had heard her sobbing for a few straight hours while she called herself a monster and a freak. 

 

But it would be better off if he didn’t say anything, at least not yet. 

 

It was Clint who called out a good morning to the two female Avengers as everyone settled down at the table. Being the super-spy he was, he too noticed the red-puffy eyes that only confirmed what he heard last night. He and Natasha shared a nod. It was him who told her to check on Wanda on the way to breakfast. 

 

Clint handed Wanda a plate that was half-filled, “Here, I saved you some scrambled eggs. I know you like them. I would have saved more if it weren’t for Thor being the pig that he is.” His eyes narrowed to Thor who raised his hands in defense, “It’s not my fault that the Captain made them so good!” Steve rolled his eyes casting a glance at Wanda, remembering how she had reacted yesterday, “You kids always find a way to bring me into this don’t you?” Tony smacked him with a newspaper, “Sure we do Gramps.” He mocked a shield-wielding stance, “And for God’s sake, do watch your language.” 

 

Wanda giggled as she slid into a bar stool and dug in. She pretended to eat, really playing with her food. Clint gently nudged her, “Wanda, you have to eat.” Wanda nodded as she took a spoonful. Not that it wasn’t good, if anything it was scrumptious, a word that Pietro had taught her, but she just couldn’t handle it at the moment. 

 

But Steve looked so happy that she was eating and she just couldn’t make the Captain upset. Soon enough nearly three-quarters of her plate was finished. With the joy and laughter spread like a disease, Wanda, for the first time in a while, felt really good. 

 

But of course, the dark thoughts had to strike the very moment she began to enjoy. 

 

_ They are probably laughing at you.  _

 

_ Pathetic bitch.  _

 

_ They just pity you because of what that woman said. _

 

_ Don’t you get it? They agree with her!  _

 

As if Natasha could sense the dark thoughts clouding the young witch’s mind, she placed a hand over Wanda’s, “You okay?” 

 

Wanda slowly nodded trying to calm herself, and Natasha down swallowing sharply, “Yeah. Lemonly? What’s the word you used?” 

 

Natasha smiled with a laugh, “Peachy. Like a peach.” 

 

Wanda looked confused, “What’s a peach? Like a beach? A pink beach?” Steve chuckled shaking his head, “No, no, a peach is a fruit. It’s orange and pink and really sweet.” Wanda’s cheeks tinted a light shade of pink in embarrassment. 

 

The rest of the day went pretty well, that is until Thor had the idea to turn on the news and see just what the heck was happening in “their Misguardian world”. Wanda didn’t understand Thor’s antics, but she wasn’t going to let confusion destroy the first happy day she’s felt in a long time. 

 

And of course, the world would explode if Wanda was able to experience pure joy for a few days.  

 

The news network was covering the Avengers latest victory of conquering Ultron in Sokovia. The lady had nice things to say about the Avengers, “Iron Man risks his life to save the greater good, Captain America and the Black Widow rescue Sokovian civilians” etc but when the coverage showed Wanda walking out of the shed eyes glowing red as her hands shot out red balls of energy towards Ultron’s minions helping the archer. Wanda watched herself conjure red energy as it surged through the atmosphere and rip apart Ultron’s robots into itty bits. The woman was frowning now, speaking bitterly, “Status on this witch is uncertain except that she was spotted with the Avengers. According to several sources, the witch was at first on the enemy’s side fighting against the Avengers. Which begs the question, is this witch really trustworthy to be an Avenger? How do we know she won’t betray them for some other evil source?”

 

Steve spoke softly, “Thor turn it off.” 

 

The woman continued her voice getting bitter with the more passion, “How do we know that this  _ witch _ ” she spat “hasn’t done something to the Avengers to make them welcome her in?” Wanda looked down at the accusation, feeling a wave of guilt even though she hadn’t done anything at all. She would have never messed with the Avengers's mind! Why would one even suggest that?

 

Steve’s voice increased, “Thor, turn it  _ off _ .” It wasn’t a request, it was an order.

 

Thor fumbled with the remote speaking frustrated, “I'M TRYING TO! THIS  _ DAMN _ THING ISN’T WORKING!”

 

Tony snatched the remote rolling his eyes finger quickly pressing the button and Wanda watched the screen quickly shift black showing their reflections. 

 

Wanda felt her cheeks tint pink with all the sudden attention on her, and to think she would have a nice day. 

 

Wanda shook her head trying to ease the worries that were practically screaming in her head, “Guys, it’s okay. Let’s just watch something else.” She hoped her voice sounded confident because she needed to be more than convincing to reassure the Avengers who all took on the role of Mom and Dad. She was convincing enough because Tony had turned on the TV once again putting on a movie called Robocop. 

 

Wanda seemed confused by the movie but didn’t want to distract the Avengers who were cheering for the Robot Cop. 

 

That was when headlines blared through the tower repeating, “Code Red, attack on 2nd Avenue.”

 

Steve got up putting on what Wanda called “his Captain America” voice as he said, “Avengers, Assemble!”

 

Wanda quickly changed into her “uniform” and Stark said something about an upgrade, whatever that meant and within minutes the team was off. 

 

A green  _ thing _ that wasn’t the Hulk was rampaging across the streets sucking up all the electricity. Wanda swore it increased in size. Clint groaned, “Please tell me that thing did not just get bigger.” Natasha shook her head, “then that would be a lie.” 

 

Wanda asked, “So then what do we do?” She was new to this whole superhero Avenging thing. The others had been doing this for years. 

 

Steve ordered, “Tony you figure out how to stop green and ugly from getting bigger. Vision do what you do. Thor and Hulk,  smash. As for everyone else, help get the civilians to safety. Understood?” He was responded with nods of heads. “Go!” 

 

The team scrambled to execute the Captain’s orders, Thor and Hulk taking punching duty while the ground team which consisted of Wanda, Steve, Natasha, and Clint getting civilians out of the way, and occasionally, more often than not throwing in punches to help the demigod and green beast. 

 

It was all going smooth, Tony had analyzed that electricity made the monster increase, or as he complicating explained, increased mitotic cellular division. But, too much of the power would overflow the monster, hence exploding out of existence. Hence, problem solved. 

 

While the team joined their abilities all together to get the monster to the tipping point, Wanda picked up something on her senses, people. She shared looks with the Captain who nodded signaling for her to go. 

 

She nodded quickly before taking off, using her scarlet-colored tendrils of magic to lift the rubble and free the people. Instead of them flashing grateful smiles and thank-yous they sent her spiteful looks despite the fact that she had saved their lives. They cast her angry glances firing at her, “Look at the witch! She’s going to come for us next!” The mother and son ran off leaving a confused witch with another crack in her heart. 

 

By now the media and press were covering this, switching back and forth with the Avengers working on the monster while she had the encounter with the woman and her child. Not wanting to get caught crying for the whole world to mock she wiped her face, eyes squeezing to focus on the mission. She slid in, using the red tendrils of magic to keep the monster still, letting out a cry as she pressurized her mind to create a great amount of energy compressing the monster to stay still. 

 

Steve took note of this and the pained cries of Wanda signaling for Thor who was whirling his hammer around summoning a surge of electricity and sent it charging into the monster. Wanda watched in horror as the monster howled in pain as his body absorbed too much power and burst. 

 

Wanda’s shield was downcast, the red disappearing as green stuff was sent into the air splattering on any given surface. Wanda tilted her hands, trying to push out waves of red energy to contain any more damage that would be caused by the sticky green substance but the force of the blast was so powerful that it went through her red forces and made a giant green mess. 

 

She heard faint voices ranging from “The Avengers gloriously save the day!” to “Sokovia witch gets called out by the public. Ditches Avengers for socialities.”

 

Wanda guilty tilted her head down pretending to focus on the icky green stuff all over her suit. The only one who didn’t seem unbothered by the mess was Hulk, who merely laughed at everyone’s disgust, commenting something along the lines of “now all of you know what it’s like to be green for once”. 

 

Wanda slowly opened her eyes to the too bright sunshine to see a hand extended out to her. She clasped Clint’s hand and let him pick her off the ground. Wanda slowly got up, trying to ignore the pained feeling in her heart as she felt Clint give her a concerned look. To try and change the topic, she asked with a light chuckle on her features, “You okay? You’re looking a little green.” Clint snorted as he replied, “Yeah and so are you Red.” Wanda let out a watery laugh as Thor started complaining about his “perfect godly hair was now ruined”. 

 

Wanda played off the press’s words that were constantly replaying in her head with laughs and fake smiles trying to convince herself, and more importantly the team that she was okay. 

 

Part of her felt tremendously bad that she was being a liability towards the Avengers, being a kid didn’t mean that she was to be given special treatment. She didn’t want to be heavily noticed, let alone criticized under the public eye. 

 

She just wanted to curl up into a ball small enough where everyone would just leave her alone. She had grown very fond of the Avengers in their short time that they had spent together, and she hoped that they felt the same way. 

 

A little while later while they were back at the Tower something inside her mind was itching her. She felt really bad about not being able to contain the explosion and she needed to apologize. She caught Steve in the hallway, calling out to him. 

 

She breathlessly spoke after the quick run to him, “I, uh, wanted to apologize about earlier today. Well, actually for two things. After what the woman had said, I, uh couldn’t focus and I wanted to apologize about that. And also for not being able to contain the explosion, instead I created a bigger mess.”

 

Steve shook his head at Wanda, “Wanda, you have nothing to be sorry for. If it was any other of us, and someone said something like that I’m pretty willing to bet that we all would have reacted the same way. And don’t worry about the explosion, either way, it was going to happen whether we contained it or not. It’s okay Wanda. We defeated the bad guy and kept all the civilians safe. That’s what matters.”

 

Wanda couldn’t help but smile as Steve’s words easily calmed her down, releasing a breath that she didn’t realize she was holding. Wanda gratefully nodded, the man was really good with his speeches, no wonder he would be good at encouragement.”

 

Wanda replied with a smile curling up her crimson-colored lips, “Thanks, Steve. Really.” 

 

Steve nodded back at the teenager calling out as she walked back to her room, “Wanda? You know what the woman said wasn’t true right?”

 

Wanda froze for a second as the scene replayed over in her head. She turned around with her smile growing even more, “Thanks, Steve. Really. Yeah, I know.”

 

That night, she couldn’t help but play all the black thoughts over and over in her head. 

 

_ Witch! _

 

_ All you do is endure chaos and destruction wherever you go! _

 

_ You couldn’t even contain a simple explosion, what’s wrong with you? _

 

Wanda sighed softly as she buried her head deeper into a pillow, “God, Pietro, I really miss you.”


	11. April 1st.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda apologizes to Tony for having a vendetta against him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This is a minor chapter, but I would like to address something. I was reading this fic that I didn't realize was anti-Wanda which kinda got me all weird now. That's what I get for not reading all the tags. Wanda signed up for HYDRA because she and Pietro were offered shelter. It's not like HYDRA freely advertised, "Hey, does anyone want to be a Nazi?" and they said yes. And Wanda isn't a criminal, at this point in her life anyway. I don't get why people think that Wanda is this evil person who wants to manipulate the Avengers and wants Tony dead, like what? Look at her progression in the MCU. She doesn't hate anyone, except Thanos and Ultron.

The next day Wanda woke up to loud rock music blaring through the halls. She groggily got up, stumbling over her steps as she rubbed her eyes trying to get used to the light pouring through the lilac curtains as she and her fellow teammates opened the doors all in their sleeping clothes. 

 

They all looked ahead to see Tony with a playful expression on his face and his laughter joined to the loud music. Natasha growled pulling out a knife out of nowhere, “Tony. Explain now.” Tony replied blankly, “It’s April 1st. April Fool’s Day bitches.”

 

Natasha rolled her eyes grumbling something along the lines of putting up with all this shit for way too long and slammed the door shut. Soon Wanda began to follow as she returned to a few more glorious moments of slumber. 

 

Said glorious moments didn’t last long before Wanda grew irritated with the music. She gave up settling down at the table where Natasha was working something on the kitchen while poor Steve was trying to shut the music down with a tablet, except he was struggling. 

 

Tony reluctantly turned off the music when Banner began to look green, and not the sick kind. 

 

Wanda chuckled as Tony punched the digits and the music came to a stop. Ah, the sound of silence. 

 

The day was mostly uneventful, all the Avengers taking the rare day off to their advantage. 

 

She entered the living room and finding Tony alone. 

 

Tony greeted, “Hey kid.”

 

Wanda smiled, asking, “Do you have a minute? I won’t be long, I promise.”

 

Tony nodded, “Well, you know what they say, time is money. Shoot. That was a reference for you.” 

 

Wanda spoke, “Before I wasn’t your biggest fan because I always thought that you had killed our parents. And HYDRA hadn’t been so truthful in what they were advertising. And I just wanted to say that I’m really sorry for hating you, I should have never placed my hate, or Pietro’s towards you, or the Avengers. I’m really sorry.”

 

Tony waved it off, “Wanda, I’m not upset. I can understand. You were a kid and seeing my name plastered on a missile would look like I fired it. It’s like with my parents. They died because my father was probably drunk and crashed. I can’t help but blame him. I understand Wanda, and I’m not mad at you.”

 

Wanda breathed out a sigh of relief, “Thanks, Tony.”

 

Tony nodded and Wanda added, “You know what would be a good prank? Every time Steve walks in the room, play the song from his videos in the forties. Or his theme song. I don’t know it in English, but in Sokovian it translates to he’s brave and bold and here to save the American day. Or dye his shampoo red white and blue.”

 

Tony smirked, “Smooth Maximoff. I’m taking the credit for it. You can have 12% of it.”


	12. Under The Flames

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new figure with powers very similar to Wanda's comes into play and decides to make things worse for Wanda, just as she's healing. I also refuse to believe that the Avengers had no missions between Age of Ultron and Civil War, I mean c'mon, they're the Avengers. 
> 
> a/n: I'm super excited for you guys to read this!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please see endnotes! :)

You’d think that the heroes would finally get their happy ending. Not yet, maybe not ever. Happiness is short-lived, and it’s something that every superhero grows to cherish, and use as a motivator. 

 

It’s been one month since Sokovia. Since the world almost got blown to itty bits. Since all living species almost turned to nothing but dust and ash. Since the Avengers gained an addition. And the last one. It’s been exactly one month that the Maximoffs, became the Maximoff. 

 

But she’s slowly getting over it. Today would be the funeral of Pietro Maximoff. And today would be the day that Wanda Maximoff would try to kill herself. 

 

Day after day, the taunts and insults from the media, and every other person who wasn’t the Avengers grew more and more. 

 

That she was a criminal. 

 

That she deserved to be locked up. 

 

That she was ugly, and a freak. 

 

A killer. 

 

A Nazi. 

 

That she shouldn’t be an Avenger. 

 

She’s useless. 

 

She’ll tear the Avengers up. (Just like how Ultron said she would.)

 

As hard as Wanda tried to push these dark thoughts down, she couldn’t do it. Because all those things that people were saying about her, were true deep down. She didn’t believe in herself, no matter how many times her fellow Avengers told her otherwise. 

 

She had just finished reading a novel she gotten from the bookshop across the street,  _ Between Shades of Grey _ and there were times when she needed to put the book down and start sobbing. There were other times where she would zone out to anything and everything that wasn’t related to the words delicately written in front of her. 

 

She still went on missions, putting on fake smiles despite the burning ache in her heart. She would rather stay indoors where she only had to deal with her own dark thoughts, let alone the constant hate from all outside corners. 

 

So far she had five nightmares and couldn’t handle another one. They all followed the same path. It started out with her pressing the button of the Cradle, and then it flashed to Pietro’s body slumped to the ground eyes bloodshot drowning in a puddle of his own blood. And then it continued to people without faces yelling at her that she was a monster, a villain, who would bring the downfall of the Avengers. That she was a monster coming to kill them all. 

 

Or that she should be locked away and have the key thrown into the ocean. 

 

That she’s a Nazi just like the Red Skull. One of the worst people in the entire human race, one being who puts later generations to shame. 

 

She tossed and turned in her sleep, waking up in cold sweat and on the verge of having a panic attack. She forced herself to calm down and try to drift unconsciously once again. But after the last one which was extremely disturbing, Wanda couldn’t go back to sleep. She needed someone to talk to. Someone who would just listen and wouldn’t judge her or try to sugarcoat her faults. Someone who had always been there for her, and who she wished would always be there. There wasn’t a thing that Wanda would do to hear her brother say something,  _ anything _ , or to hug him one last time. 

 

She really missed him. He’d make their problems seem like nothing. 

 

Wanda crept off the bed into a hoodie and jeans and made her way through the bustling streets of the city despite it only being three am. Wanda remembered in school their teacher had titled New York City as “the city that never sleeps”. She scoffed at it, surely the city slept, people needed to sleep. Guess she was right. 

 

But at least here, no one would stop and interrogate her for walking the streets at the early hours of dawn. 

 

She followed through the cemetery by heart, keeping her hands in her pocket and hood over her head as she settled herself down in front of the gravestone. 

 

Wanda heavily sighed speaking lowly but loud enough that if one was close to her would hear her. 

 

“Pietro, I miss you, so, so much. I keep telling myself that it should’ve been me who took the hit. Not you. And then I’d think of what you would say in your heavy accent-Wanda, it’s not your fault. You wouldn’t have known. It’s okay. I’m okay.”

 

She swallowed back a sob, digging her nails deep into the soil as she continued, “Some days are really hard. It feels like that day all over again. But the Avengers, they’re so kind, sweet and funny.” Wanda let a watery chuckle escape her lips, “Don’t worry, you’re still funnier. Clint, he acts like Papa, he really cares and makes sure I’m okay. Reminds me a lot of you. Natasha, she’s the only other female on the team, so y’ know, we got to stick together. But she’s really nice and she does care. And Steve, he acts a lot like Mom. Even though I lost you, you’re always in my heart. And don’t worry Pietro, they’re taking care of me.

 

I keep having these thoughts that I’m not worth it. That I’m this bad person, and it’s true. At least in the eyes of people who don’t understand me. And it hurts every day. The Avengers worry, but I don’t want to make myself more of a burden than I already am. It’s already enough, more than enough that the Avengers took me in and made me like them, and I’ll only bring them down. It’s not fair Pietro.”

 

Tears began to slip down Wanda’s face and she paused to wipe them away. “I’m trying, and the media and the people only see the bad in me. Like I’m this bad person like Ultron. That I’m a witch, a Nazi, and I’ll be the ruin of the Avengers.” She sniffed, “I don’t blame them. Pietro, I wish you were here. You would make everything okay. I wish I could see you one last time, hug you one last time.”

 

Wanda’s voice trailed off for a few minutes as she was left alone to her black and messy thoughts. Tears silently rolled down her pale cheeks. 

 

She’s been pretending that she was okay but she isn’t. Not even remotely close. 

 

Some nights she can’t sleep from all the thoughts in her head. 

 

She has to resort to hurting herself to get her body to sleep. And even if she does sleep, it’s only for a couple of hours before a nightmare leaves her on the verge of screaming. 

 

She feels so alone, and the one person who could really make her feel better was gone. 

 

She examined the skin around her wrists, thin red slashes heavily contrasting with the cream color. 

 

She looked up at the sky as rain began to fall, mixing in with her tears. She slowly got up deciding to get back before anyone began to worry, if they cared anyway. (They did.)

 

……

 

The mission was simple really. Highly wanted criminal Klaue who was wanted in over seventy-four countries was spotted in Amsterdam. Which gained the Avengers attention and within minutes they were all on board a Quin-Jet heading for Amsterdam. 

 

Wanda planted herself in a seat as she listened over to what Natasha and Clint were discussing in a different language, that sounded familiar. 

 

Natasha spoke in a heavy tone, “Итак, что вы хотите сделать после миссии?” Clint listened intently as his friend asked what they should do after the mission before replying, “Все, кроме шаурмы. Старк так непреклонен, что у нас это есть после каждой миссии. Может быть, просто смотреть Netflix и пицца звучит хорошо.” Wanda asked taking everyone by surprise, “Что такое шаурма?”

 

Natasha turned with surprise written all over her face, “You understand Russian?” Wanda nodded replying, “My mother was Russian, and my father was Sokovian. I know most European languages, French, Italian, Hungarian, and Russian.” 

 

The remainder of the flight consisted of poking fun at the other Avengers in languages that they didn’t understand and laughing at their confused, frustrated faces. And soon enough, it was time for their mission to begin. Steve spoke, firm voice taking over his usually carefree and light tone, “Tony be our eyes in the sky. Natasha and Clint you guys do what you do best. Wanda and I  will scout for perimeters while Thor and Hulk, you’re our fists. Got it?”

 

Everyone nodded and Wanda couldn’t help but feel that the mission was going to go horribly wrong, but stayed quiet. 

 

….

They hadn’t even landed when the sound of gunfire rang and a multitude of bullets was fired at them, causing Wanda to yelp at surprise. Bullets bounced off the window panes and triggered the scene of Pietro’s body being pelted by bullets and suddenly she felt sick. Natasha had latched onto hand thinking that she had panicked at the bullets being fired at them which was only half true speaking softly, “Hey, you’re okay. You have to breathe, in and out, in and out, see, you’re fine.”

 

Wanda quickly recovered from the flashback focusing hard conjuring a red force field that reflected all the bullets off so Clint could land the jet safely. The team immediately set out setting a perimeter, Thor, Bruce, and Tony taking off into the skies beating up the dozens of robots that were firing at them while the ground team got to work. 

 

Wanda ran, fingers twirling as she conjured red fields trying to cover as many people as she possibly could while at the same time calling out in her thick Sokovian accent, “Run! Get to shelter! Go now!” 

 

The people began to move quickly, however creating a mass hysteria which only made things worse. She grunted holding up the shield over the large crowd while Steve got everyone inside as quickly as possible. 

 

What she didn’t expect was for something to blast into her and send her crashing against the cold concrete. She groaned slowly getting up to find a person with a smirk on her face. And then the figure sent another blueish blast at her. Wanda looked up confused despite the raining bullets, this woman had powers too? 

 

The woman sneered, “What? Little witch thought that she was the only one who had this gift? The things I can do! These people, should fear us! The mutants!”

 

Before Wanda could stop her, too deep in shock that there was someone else with similar abilites to her but not as she conjured a giant mass of energy and sent it cascading into the sky where it exploded, creating fire and debris everywhere. A building with civilians watching fearfully was about to crumble and Wanda wasted no time in jutting out her hand as red traced over the foundation, keeping the building standing up. 

 

She made eye contact with Steve who looked just as confused as she did. Wanda fired a red ball at her trying to knock her out but the woman dodged it with ease, instead, hitting a trash can causing a low-level explosion. 

 

She heard Steve speak over the comms, “Guys, we have an Enhanced, female with abilities sorta similar to Wanda.” 

 

Replying was the semi-annoyed tone of Natasha who sounded like she was running, “Hawkeye and I  got Klaue heading your way.”

Steve nodded, “Then everyone regroup here and do what we do best.” 

 

The woman didn’t seem interested in the Avengers, and even Klaue looked surprised to see her instead repeatedly striking Wanda down. She taunted, “You’re no hero Wanda Maximoff. These abilities, they will only look at you as a freak.” 

 

The woman slowly rose up into the air, white locks of hair having traces of blue as dark blue energy swirled above her hands and before Wanda or any of the team could react, shouting, “Look at all this power, you know you want to do all these things, but you align yourself with  _ them _ !” She spat the last word out, like it was poison, hurling the energy blast towards a building and only smirking as it went up in flames. 

 

Wanda and the team watched in horror as the building collapsed, foundations becoming nothing but ash as people scrambled to save themselves. Wanda remained there frozen in shock, turning to the Captain for what their next move should be. Steve spoke carefully, trying to devise a plan, “Wanda, Tony, get everyone out of here. The rest of us, take her down.”

 

Wanda ignored the burning feeling that Steve didn’t want her around after the woman had said that she wanted to do the same things as her but she wouldn’t, focusing on getting everyone to safety, proving that she cared, she wanted to be an Avenger, even if everyone around her didn’t want her to. 

 

Then, the reporters came. God, Wanda grew a burning hatred for the media, constantly blowing things out of proportion and making everything worse in general. Honestly, she needed a Pepper to fix this. She didn’t want to ask Pepper and make it seem like she was being put on the spot, and if Wanda, a now Avenger couldn’t handle this, then surely must not be worth the  “Avenger” status.

 

She pretended to miss the cold-hearted and cruel looks as she guided the people who were sending her death stares to safety, urging people in her thick Sokovian accent, “Go! Get out!” 

 

One of the Europeans who spoke English spat, “So you can kill us then?” Wanda felt the stinging sensation of tears before the tears pooled in her eyes, merely shaking her head because if she opened her mouth she’d probably start sobbing right then and there and that wouldn’t be good. 

 

So she kept herself quiet urging the people to move. She returned to where the other Avengers were fighting the woman, using tasers, arrows, and a shield to try and restrain her but failed effortlessly. She pressed a finger to her com, “Guys? What should we do?” She was on the verge of panicking. She heard Natasha’s voice reply back, “Wanda, aim a blast at her.” Wanda replied back, “But what if something bad happens?” She didn’t care that she sounded childish, but if something went wrong for something she  _ actually _ did, the world was sure to hate her, if they didn’t already. 

 

Seeing that if she didn’t make a move there would be serious casualties, she quickly summoned energy and sent the scarlet-colored ball hurling towards the blue glowing figure only for her to jut her hand out and the ball went still. 

 

Wanda looked confused, she didn’t know or think that her powers could be taken over. Man, today was definitely not her day. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This took a while to write, partly because I had a lot of ideas on how to write this. I wanted to make add the part where the team finds out just how much Wanda is hurting but then it would take much longer and I really wanted to get a chapter out, but I also liked the cliffhanger I left it on. The female character with similar powers to Wanda is owned by me, unless there actually is a character like that, and no, she is not based on Polaris from The Gifted. How did you guys like the chapter? One thing I wanted to be big on was not rushing Wanda's mourning. It kinda seems like it in the beginning, but it's more of an act so the other Avengers think that she's okay, even though she really isn't. I was going to write a funeral scene but then I thought of a much better idea (mwahaha). So did you guys like the chapter? Thoughts? Opinions? Ideas? Please feel free to comment on something and leave kudos!


	13. No More Mutants

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda attempts to kill herself. (TW: Suicide attempt)

Wanda stood there poised for attack when her energy blast was sent hurling at her knocking her out. She slowly got up, unsure of she should do next, fighting regular people was one thing, but fighting people like her was different. Especially when all efforts are proven worthless. 

 

The team continued attacking, only to be met by a sapphire blue barrier. The woman rose up into the sky cackling at the numerous faces of fear and terror, “You all will learn to fear the mutants.” And within a snap of her fingers, she was gone. 

 

Wanda exhaled sharply, falling to her knees, exhaustion, and pain catching up in her frame, resting a hand on the cold concrete. She didn’t want to see the faces of fear, terror, and even betrayal. It was all too much. 

 

She heard a firm voice call out, “You okay Soldier?” Wanda craned her head up to see the Captain with an arm extended towards her. She nodded, clasping him sweep her off the ground. Despite her saying that she was okay, he still gave her a look of concern, guiding her to the rest of the team. Natasha reported, “Klaue escaped. Still unsure of whether or not the two are allies or not.” 

 

Wanda nodded, can’t help herself to feel the burden of why their mission failed. Because the woman felt that she had something to prove against Wanda, because Wanda, was a mutant. She was feared, looked at as a Nazi, and the only people who didn’t hate her (yet) were the Avengers. She was sure that would change now. 

 

She lingered behind the Avengers not daring to meet any eyes because Wanda didn’t want to see their disappointed faces, already having to imagine it was enough. 

 

She forced her head down as she quietly sank into a seat, purposely the farthest one from where everyone else was sitting. 

 

_ Why are you being a baby? It’s not like you were her? Fucking bitch.  _

 

_ Just stood there great job.  _

 

_ The Avengers will hate you now.  _

 

_ She felt like she had something to prove, where do you think she gets that from? _

 

_ Pietro would be so disappointed. _

 

The last one stung particularly hard. Imagining her brother’s face among the Avenger’s all scrawled in disappointment made her feel sicker than she already was. 

 

She shook her head instead, choosing to listen to the Avenger’s conversations, not daring herself to make a sound. 

 

What had she done?

  
  


Halfway during the flight, Natasha sat next to her gently clasping her left hand. “Wanda, look at me.” Wanda reluctantly looked up to the elder woman, trying not to cry but that only increased the ache in her heart causing tears to silently spill. Natasha spoke firmly yet gently at the same time, “What happened today was not your fault. You do know that right?” Wanda shook her head, swallowing thickly, “Yes it is. The woman felt that she had something to prove to me, that I was capable of the same things that she is, and she hurt people. And I just stood there frozen in shock when I could have stopped her. You saw all those people.”  _ They hate me, and you probably do too. _ She wanted to say the last bit, it was stuck on the tip of her tongue but she couldn’t say it. 

 

Natasha looked at her with wisdom beyond her years, “Wanda, no one blames you. You aren’t responsible for the feelings of another person. You did nothing to her. She felt threatened, so she attacked. That’s not on you. You’re not a monster.”

 

Wanda wished she could find strength in Natasha’s words. 

 

Because the second the Quinjet landed, dozens of reporters were clicking their cameras and waving things in their faces all asking questions that pertained to the failed mission earlier today. 

 

“Was Klaue working with the mystery woman?”  _(I don't know.)_

 

“Who is this mystery woman? And what relations does she have to the individual Wanda Maximoff?”  _(I don't know who she is, and she has no connections to me!)_

 

“Is this mystery woman still wreaking havoc?”  _(I hope not.)_

 

“How do we know that Wanda Maximoff isn’t working with the woman to take down the Avengers?”  _(No matter how hard I try to prove myself, we will never know. At least in my heart I will.)_

 

Wanda merely looked away pretending that she wasn’t there, letting Natasha guide her inside as she barked to the reporters, “We aren’t taking questions, especially stupid ones.” She clasped the seventeen-year-old’s hand and led her into the Tower leaving all the reporters shocked. 

 

Steve sent a look towards the woman who had asked the last question giving a small statement, “The Avengers are yet to discover the true identity of the mystery woman from today’s earlier attack. As for Wanda, she is an Avenger with nothing but good intentions, so if you could kindly take your inappropriate questions elsewhere, that would be highly appreciated.” The woman remained stunned as the Avengers trailed inside the Tower. 

 

Outside, a large group of people had begun chanting, “No more mutants! No more mutants! No more mutants!”

 

Thor turned on the TV to watch cartoons with the Hulk, only for the news to be playing, bold colors of red, white, blue, and black playing video footage of their failed mission, specifically focusing on the woman as she rose up and attacked Wanda, indirectly threatening just how powerful mutants were and the media had turned to speculate if Wanda and the woman who they had named Indigo were in cahoots. Wanda merely sighed to herself, heading to her room telling the team that she was going to take a nap. The team nodded, figuring that their latest addition could use some well-deserved rest. 

 

What the team didn’t know was what Wanda had really planned. 

 

Wanda trudged through the hallways, feeling herself closer and closer to breaking out in tears. None of this was fair! Why was it that she had to deal with all of this? Wasn’t it already enough that she lived with hating herself? She didn’t need to lose her brother, or destroy her country or to somehow create a whole mutant uprising against herself?

  
  


Everything hurt, ached all over her bones, muscles and in her heart. What had she done that was so bad to deserve all of this? She bitterly spat in her head, “So many things.”

 

Living hurt, so much. She thought she could be strong and not let the dark thoughts win but of course, they would. Was she really surprised? Of course not. She knew that she was weak, worthless of existing, let alone being an Avenger.  _ Why not end it all now? _

 

_ Why not? _

 

_ What do you have to live for? _

 

_ Pain? _

 

_ Pathetic. _

 

Wanda wasted no time in throwing open her bathroom door and desperately searching for razors and ripping the packet open. Tears poured down her cream-colored face as she slid the covering off the razor bringing it to her wrists, letting it open her skin. Instead of feeling a harsh stinging sensation, she only felt numb, which was much well-welcomed then the usual pain that she had to cover up with fake smiles to hide the burning in her heart. It wasn’t fair! She couldn’t handle any of this, she needed to escape and forever. 

 

She wiped a tear, at least, if she was gone, the Maximoffs could finally be reunited. 

 

She kept raising the blade to her soft skin, cutting over and over, and deep enough to make her feel pain, but it was a different pain than what she was normally accustomed to. 

 

She ignored the pain, continuing to cut herself until all she saw was the blood-red scarlet that everyone seemed to hate. 

 

She ignored FRIDAY’s feminine voice urging her to put the blade down, only applying more pressure, because who was this virtual person to tell her to stop when she was finally feeling at peace with herself? 

 

She didn’t understand! Hell, no one did! 

 

No one would ever understand the pain in Wanda’s heart as she faced every moment forth without her brother, the only person who ever kept her sane! No one, not even Pietro would ever understand the self-loathing she had, because of her own mistakes! There wasn’t anyone to blame for joining HYDRA! That was her choice, no matter how much she tried to deny it! She was a good person deep down, but she made so many mistakes! If they hadn’t joined Ultron, Sokovia would have been okay! Pietro would have been alive! She was the fault of her own brother’s death. And no matter how hard she tried no one would see her for the good in her. People would only look at the dark parts of her, and see nothing else. Seeing her powers as a freak, the choices she made as evil, impossible to deserve redemption. That she was evil, and that was the end of the story. People were becoming villains, looking to her as a motivational drive. How sick was she? Maybe she was the villain in her story, and she just didn’t know it. Vision’s words rang in her head, “ _ I’m not a monster, and I don’t think I would know if I was one.” _

 

Maybe that was her story. 

 

Pain, and guilt. And a whole lot of mistakes. 

 

Wasn’t it enough that she hated herself? 

 

Her cuts became deeper to the point where she could feel metal against her bones but she didn’t care. She kept on going, taking nothing but pleasure as her scarlet-colored blood trailed down her arms. She didn’t care about anything but death. 

 

At least if she was dead, she could be happy. The Maximoffs could be reunited, each dying tragic deaths. 

 

What Wanda didn’t know was that FRIDAY had alerted the rest of the Avengers that Wanda was hurting herself to the brink of death and they were running up the stairs praying that they weren’t too late. 

 

Wanda ignored FRIDAY’s continued attempts to get her to stop, not stopping despite the black dots that clouded her vision. She heard voices, shouting, but they sounded drowsy. Wanda whispered through her pink lips as she fell into the darkness, “No more mutants.”


	14. I'm alive (but dead inside)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> make sure you read the last chapter or you'll be pretty confused

Natasha Romanoff was holding a discussion on what they could do to make their newest member feel any better. The sixteen-year-old was dealing with so much on her plate: Ultron, the loss of her brother, adjusting to a whole new lifestyle in a foreign country with people she didn’t even know, and getting a whole lot of unnecessary hate from people because of her past and her upbringing. 

 

Natasha felt bad because she too had dealt with a lower level of that. Natasha’s ledger is brimming with red no matter what you tell her otherwise and Wanda is just a child who wants a place in this world. 

 

She had offered that one day every week the team should spend the night together and just be humans. Do what regular people did. Talk about their feelings, make snacks, and watch movies. She knew Wanda was struggling, reading people was one of the many things that the Black Widow did best, but she didn’t think just how much she was struggling when FRIDAY’s feminine voice rang out with panic laced in her tone, “It appears that Miss Maximoff is attempting to kill herself.”

 

Natasha Romanoff had never felt more panic in her entire life. She was the first one running up the stairs, praying that she wasn’t too late. Clint was hot on her heels, a surge of father protectiveness surging through his veins as he knocked on Wanda’s door only for it to be empty. He spoke brokenly at the light humming in the corner, “The bathroom.” He knocked on the door calling out gently, “Wanda?” He was responded with mere silence, and that was what scared him. 

 

Steve ordered the others to stand back as he kicked the door down to find the horrifying sight of Wanda unconscious in a large puddle of her own blood. 

 

The team remained frozen in shock and fear at the sight of their newest member. They knew Wanda was hurting, but they didn’t consider that she was hurting this much. Steve wasted no time in scooping up the teenager and running over to the med-bay. Bruce immediately got out to work giving Wanda an IV line and stitching up cuts while Steve applies pressure to the cuts that just couldn’t seem to stop bleeding. 

 

The rest of the team could only watch in horror at just what Wanda had done to herself. Natasha remained in the corner silently crying to herself. She didn’t often show weakness, but she cared so much about the sixteen-year-old. Clint had walked over to her and held her hand whispering to her and sounding like he was trying to convince himself speaking, “She’ll be okay.”

 

Natasha tightly gripped his hand as tears silently spilled, “How come we didn’t notice this before?”

Clint shook his head dipped down, “I don’t know.”

...

 

Wanda Maximoff was supposed to die. Instead of hearing God asking her who she was she was greeted with an empty, annoying silence. Was this what Pietro had gone through? Instead of getting a vocal response, she heard the sounds of feet shuffling, and the low whispers of the Avengers. Which meant that she was alive. 

 

She wanted to frown, to cry, she couldn’t do the one thing that she needed. Was she too weak? She wanted to sniffle, she really was a coward. 

 

She was supposed to be dead! She was tired of the consistent burning pain in her heart, tired of all the fake smiles, she wanted to be done with the world! She was done! She was a curse, she hurt the people around her. With her abilities, she hurt people. With Ultron, she hurt people. How many more people did it need to be before the Avengers locked her in a cell and threw the key in the ocean?

 

She was sick of the reporters making every single action of her’s seem like a threat to society. Maybe it was. Maybe she was the monster, but she just didn’t know it. She didn’t mean for any of this to happen. She should have been the one dead, not Pietro. Pietro would have grieved, and then he would have moved on. But Wanda helplessly couldn’t. Her brother had been there for every single step of the way, and continuing on without him, simply, felt  _ wrong. _ And it definitely didn’t help that the people around her seemed to only notice her mistakes. 

 

But how would she face the Avengers after what she had done? Would they treat her as a kid and trap her? Would they simply not care? All these thoughts began pouring in Wanda’s head, and she could feel the anxiety forming inside of her. 

 

Then she felt something sharp jab her and her thoughts stilled and she slipped back into the darkness. 

 


	15. In time, there is strength

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda wakes up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of my shorter chapters for now, the longer chapters should resume starting next chapter.

Clint was lost in his own thoughts of what he could have done to prevent this when he noticed Wanda’s unconscious body fidget and tears roll down her eyes despite them being closed. He felt his heart slowly crack as Wanda cried in her sleep. He softly whisper-yelled to Bruce, gesturing to the moving sixteen year old who Bruce increased the line dosage. 

 

_ How long has she been hurting like this? _

 

Clint could only ponder the answer to his questions while they waited for Wanda to fully wake up. She must have been hurting a lot, from the loss of her brother, and all the backlash she’s been getting must have only made things worse. Plus, she’s the only kid in a room filled with adults with twenty-six being their youngest. 

 

_ Why didn’t she come to any of us telling her what was wrong? _

 

Well, would you tell Tony everything? No, because the only person you fully trust is Nat. And you know her for so long. Wanda, she’s a kid who has been through, and is going through a lot. And a lot of those things the team themselves haven’t been through. 

 

Clint could only look at the sleeping girl with concern. 

 

….

Wanda slowly stirred, forcing her eyelids shut. She didn’t want to look at the Avengers, faces etched with worry. They would feel guilty, when it wasn’t even their fault. But she couldn’t pretend to be asleep forever? She poked an eye open, at just the right time because the only two occupants in the room, Clint and Natasha weren’t looking at her, ushering the others to get some sleep because it was their turn to watch. When they turned back to Wanda, her eyes were fluttering open. Natasha wasted no time in raising a glass of cold water to Wanda’s dry lips instructing in a motherly tone, “Drink, it’ll help.” Wanda didn’t try fighting Natasha, knowing that she was right. After she was done drinking, she placed her head back down on the pillow, waiting for either of the others to bring up what she did. 

 

Neither assassin said anything, choosing to fuss over the girl and Wanda couldn’t blame then and accepted their help. It was only after ensuring that she was comfortable and physically fine Natasha tightly whispered, “Wanda, why did you do it?” Wanda knows what Natasha is implying, and the sixteen-year-old isn’t about to play dumb with the Black Widow. She could only look at Natasha with brown irises betraying the brokenness she’s used to hiding, letting herself be vulnerable as she spoke, “ _ How could I not? _ ” 

 

Natasha tightly clasps Wanda’s hand while Clint hurried to get Bruce and Wanda was dreading what the team was going to do. Were they going to corner her on the bed until she fessed up? Hopefully not, and as if Natasha had read Wanda’s thoughts she spoke in a calming tone, “No one is going to question you okay? Whenever you’re ready, you tell us okay?” Wanda could only nod, because the team was here with worried expressions on her face. 

 

Bruce strolled over to Wanda’s right side inspecting some monitors while Clint returned to his position on the chair on Wanda’s right. Wanda uneasily shifted, she wasn’t sure what exactly was going to happen from here but the kind looks sent by the other Avengers kept her calm. 

 

No one said anything for the first few minutes, and Wanda was extremely grateful for it. But the silence was eventually broken from Clint’s concerned expression that mirrored Pietro, “Wanda, you okay?” 

 

_ How the hell do I respond to that? _

 

She merely shrugged her shoulders refusing to meet anyone’s eyes but it was Steve’s turn to talk with a ridiculously encouraging smile, “Wanda, it’s going to be okay, you’re going to get better, we’re all going to help you alright?” 

 

That sounded nice. Really nice actually. 

  
  
  
  



	16. It's a long road till recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda and the Avengers talk about her suicide attempt.

 

Wanda drifted off to a night of dreamless sleep and when she woke up, Natasha and Clint had been replaced with Steve who seemed like he was trying to figure something out and smiled kindly when he saw her awake. He helped her sit up asking in a motherly tone, “Are you feeling any better?” Wanda shrugged her shoulders, she kept doing that, wanting to ask the unspoken question:  _ What happens next? _

 

Steve spoke, “We’re not going to talk about it now, but we have to talk about it okay? I know you’re feeling all these things that we might not be able to understand or even grasp a basic understanding, but we’re your family okay? We stick with each other alright?” Wanda nodded speaking softly, and if it weren’t for his serum he wouldn’t have heard her, “I just really miss him.” Steve offered another smile, “I know you did, but we are all here for you, every single step of the way.”

 

_ He might look genuine, or actually be, but deep down, he wanted you dead.  _

 

_ Hell, all of them do it.  _

 

_ So why not just fucking do it? _

 

Wanda gently shook her head, trying to keep the dark thoughts away and Steve looked at her in concern. She sheepishly spoke, “I um, sometimes the thoughts get too much.” Steve nodded his head, offering a kind smile as Wanda fell back asleep. 

 

It was kinda awkward between the two parties, Wanda had done something terrible and if they were a minute too late, she would have been gone. They needed to talk about it, but they didn’t know exactly how, and more importantly, they didn’t want to scare the poor girl. 

 

Two days later, Wanda was cleared, and Natasha led her to the Avengers’ Common Room. It was a lot like the living room, but a tad bit bigger, and had a small kitchen and snacks of its own. And a whole lot of pillows and blankets. Wanda looked confused stuttering, “What is all this?” Why were all the other Avengers here too, in their pajamas? She didn’t know that Thor wore rubber ducky PJs. 

 

Natasha led Wanda to the center of the room explaining, “Whenever one of us are having tough times, we all huddle up in here, talk about our feelings, and watch movies. Oh, and whatever stays in this room, stays in this room. Right, FRIDAY?”

 

The AI chimed, “Affirmative Miss Romanoff.” Natasha gave the ceiling a look, “What did I tell you about calling me that?” The AI chimed with a hint of sass, “I’m sorry Natalie Rushman, herder of the spiders.” Looks at Tony were given. Tony merely shrugged. 

 

Clint diverted the attention back to the main issue, “What Natasha is saying is that this is the Avenger comfort room, it’s where we talk and heal.” Wanda awkwardly nodded, understanding what Clint was implying. 

 

She nodded, waiting for someone to start the conversation because she had no clue what she was going to say, or what she was going to do. How do you start off a conversation about your suicide attempt?

 

Luckily, Steve was the one to start the conversation, “So, Wanda, what’s bothering you?”

 

_ What is bothering me? _

 

_ Pietro is gone, and it’s all because of me. _

 

_ Everyone I put my trust in, ends up betraying me.  _

 

_ I destroyed my own country, all because of some stupid vendetta! _

 

_ Everyone leaves Wanda Maximoff, for better or worse.  _

 

_ People keep seeing me as a villain, no matter how hard I try, and that’s all that people will ever see me as.  _

 

_ I, I’m a monster _ . 

 

She clamped her hand over her mouth, _she did not say that out loud._ She _did not_ say that loud. Maybe if she kept saying it over and over she never said that. She did not say that. Seeing the mixed looks on the Avengers's face, tears began to well up. They definitely saw her for the truly pathetic being that she was. She was about to walk out, and just keep walking till she discovered her true place in this cruel world besides being the poster person for evil. She really did want to, but maybe it was just life. She was going to be this evil, hated person and there was nothing she could do alter that.

 

Just as she lunged for the doorknob a feminine voice replied, “Don’t. You’re not a monster.” Wanda turned her head around to see Natasha wrap her arms in a giant hug in which the other Avengers began to pile in, whispering kind words of encouragement. 

 

Wanda sank under the Avengers gratefully accepting the giant hug, maybe, just maybe, things would take a turning point? 

She let the Avengers set up pillows and blankets and played these movies with an insignia reading Disney, and let them curl around her, making her feel safe, warm, welcomed, and most importantly loved. 

 

.......

 

A lady with blue colored tips and a black heavy jacket walked through the outskirts of Queens, bringing an airy presence as if she was better than everyone else, despite having the same appearance of the people around her. She stomped through the sidewalks, increasing as she got to her desired destination when a man who looked no older than thirty cocked a brow at her and whistled at her direction. She rolled her eyes, focusing on much more serious things than a man taking a liking to her. 

 

She ignored the man, walking faster, and quite annoyed to find the man hot on her tail, arm reaching out to her. She turned around, blue-tipped hair whipping as she turned her head in annoyance, “Look, I don’t know who you are, but kindly, leave me alone” and at the same time, the man only shook his head speaking, “Hey, beautiful, what do you say about coming with me to my place?” The eighteen-year-old mutant only cocked a brow feeding his ego just to crush it, “You’re cute and all, but I have better things to focus on than swoony boys who probably just cheat on another chick. So, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go.” The man was still persistent, “At least let me offer you a ride home?” He made a gesture to caress her face when she sharply grabbed his hand and twisting it, a smirk beginning to form as he yelped in pain. She spoke harshly as she punched, “We, don’t, touch, without, asking!” After every syllable, she struck him harshly causing him to stagger backward and mutter something about women and violence. The teenager smirked, resembling more of a villain, cherry-colored lips curving upwards as her fingertips began to dance a bright blue. She began to form a small ball of energy, tossing it between her hands, quite enjoying the feared look painted on the man’s face, “What was that? I’m not quite sure I heard that.” The man only trembled in fear and taking off running, never looking back twice. 

 

The teenage mutant only rolled her eyes and muttering a string of nasty words in her Dutch accent and continued walking through the city. She only stopped once, at that was when she got a full glimpse of the Avengers Tower and whispered harshly, “Sit tight Wanda Maximoff, we shall encounter once again.” 

 

She turned away, and disappeared in a ball of blue smoke. 

  
  
She had some business to settle with the little witch who proclaimed herself hero, let alone,  _ an Avenger _ . 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DAAAAAAA! Hey guys! What did you think about this chapter? And the last line, hmm, what does Indigo (the same mutant who attacked Wanda earlier) plan on doing to Wanda?


	17. Reach Out and Touch Faith

There’s this saying that life is a fragile mixture of heavily contrasting shades of whites and blacks, so opposite in polarity, that the human eye can’t help itself to only perceiving grey.

This gave different connotations to different people. For Wanda, the black shades represented the dark thoughts that constantly followed her, itching her to scream, cry, and end it all over again. 

 

On the other hand, the white thoughts told her no, fight the darkness. You can do it! The Avengers care about you, and they know that you can overcome it. 

 

Ever since her suicide attempt, the Avengers have been watching over. Leaving her post-it notes of encouragement, kind smiles, easy training, making sure she eats enough, buying Sokovian delicacies despite the astonishing cost, make sure she rests, is safe, and as happy as she can be. They tell her it’s progress, and they’ll help her learn to breathe again without the jaggy pieces. 

  
  


Day by day, Wanda begins to heal. She doesn’t feel it, but the Avengers say that they notice it, and that she is so strong. 

 

Wanda feels reborn, she’s learning to trust, to feel, all over again. 

 

But the thoughts are still there. 

 

Tonight, is an example of those black days. 

 

She tosses and turns in her sleep, dark thoughts penetrating her like arrows. She bolts upwards, breath jaggy, and a scream at the edge of her lips. She can’t stop the tremors wracking her body, and she promised the team she’d try and talk to them before she’d hurt herself. 

 

The sixteen-year-old forces herself off her crimson ruffled sheets, and her dainty feet slightly flinch at the cold marble at first, and makes her way over to the nearest bedroom towards her. She sucks in a breath, unsure if she should be bothering anyone at two am, but she knows that if she doesn’t tell someone, she’ll regret it. 

 

_ Even if sometimes the dark thoughts are right _ . 

 

Just as she’s about to turn away, the door opens and a disheveled Natasha Romanoff pokes out the door. Seeing the distressed expression on Wanda’s face, she opens the door wider, letting the teenager enter the warmth of her room. 

 

The redhead doesn’t bother asking why the teenager is up, they both know the answer. But that doesn’t mean that talking about it won’t help. Natasha guides the panic-ridden child to her bed, letting Wanda cozy herself up against the extremely warm covers. Natasha wears a patient and kind expression, speaking softly, “Another bad dream?” The teenager softly nods her head, hugging her knees tightly. Natasha rubs a patch of material right over Wanda’s left knee, “Talk to me?”

 

Wanda inhales and swallows, voice barely a whisper, “It always starts in Sokovia. Pietro and I are ten years old. Instead of the rest of the day is supposed to happen, our parents turn to me and call me a monster, and a disgrace to the Maximoff name. Pietro doesn’t say anything, instead, he chooses to join them, lashing out at me, for letting everyone around me die.” 

 

She pauses to swallow, and Natasha gives an encouraging nod to continue. She resumes, “Then the missile comes through the window, and my parents die angry and hating me. Then everything goes black. Then Pietro turns to me, angry, I’ve never seen him so angry before, and he yells at me, how everything was my fault. How these powers, HYDRA, Ultron was all my fault, how he worked so hard to keep me alive, when I couldn’t do the same for him.” 

 

She trembles, voice quivering as she refuses to meet Natasha’s eyes, “And then the team appears, and you guys say that you hate me, and that I’m not worth being an Avenger, and then you guys,t, throw me in a prison,a, and then, I’m, all alone.” The tears are back in her eyes, parts of her are is ashamed that she confessed this to Natasha who must feel frustrated at her for still doubting her as well as everyone else, and at the same time, hating herself for even conjuring such thoughts.” Her breathing begins to increase, and she feels the panic clawing up her throat, as she mumbles, “Everyone hates me.” 

 

As if Natasha could read her thoughts, she speaks, “Wanda, breathe in and out. In, and out. There you go, you’re okay, you’re safe, and you’re in my room. It’s just a dream Wanda, we don’t hate you. Your parents, Pietro, and the team is so proud of you. It’s okay to make mistakes Wanda, you were misguided. I understand you, because years ago I was in your same position where everyone only saw me a stone-cold assassin, who didn’t deserve to live. Sometimes, I think that they’re right, what purpose do I have to live when I’ve taken the lives of so many? And then I remember, being an Avenger, saving people’s lives, whether or not they want me to, makes me feel a little bit better about myself. It’s not about what the mass majority of people think, people will hate anything, it’s what the people closest to you think, and we think, correction, we know that you aren’t a villain. You aren’t a bad person, Wanda. You’re just a kid, who made some mistakes, thinking that this would be freedom. And to be honest, I don’t blame you. I think anyone would have done the same things you did, at that moment. And you fought Ultron, and became a hero. You are so much more than what you think you are Wanda, I’m telling you.”

 

Wanda replied, “Then why does everyone else hate me?”

 

Natasha spoke, “It’s because they don’t know you well enough to see the real Wanda Maximoff. They’ve assumed the worst in you, and the more times you prove them wrong, the more they will change. I promise you. The Wanda I know is smart, strong, beautiful, and cares so much about the people around her.” 

 

Right on cue, Wanda yawned and caused Natasha to chuckle, “Alrighty Wands, bedtime for the baby Avenger.” Wanda knew Nat’s words weren’t meant to threaten, seeing the amused expression on her face. She moved to get off the bed when Natasha stopped her, “Get in the bed Wanda, I’m not leaving you alone, besides, my bed is far warmer than yours.” Wanda didn’t dare argue with the Black Widow, instead replying a sincere thanks in which Natasha replied seriously, “Wanda, don’t ever thank me for being a good person, alright?”

 

Wanda merely nodded, not wanting to upset her friend, and shifted into the warmth of Natasha’s bed, and within minutes, her eyes had fluttered closed. 

 

_ Wanda watched helplessly as hundreds of mutants rose from the ground, declaring vengeance against the people of some sort. The Avengers wouldn’t be able to hold them off, and any longer, they’d be sure to join Pietro.  _

 

_ Wanda screamed for the madness to end, but her words were lost in the howling of the wind never heard, and never thought twice off.  _

 

_ The scene instantly flashed to show the Avengers Tower replaced into a black circle with an X in it, replacing the iconic A logo. Everywhere Wanda looked, she felt horror itch through her veins and convert into an audible gasp. There were mutants everywhere. Innocent people were held hostage, discriminated because they weren’t like them, and mutants had begun to run over the world.  _

 

_ Was this what the world would come down to? _

 

_ A few blocks from where she was helplessly standing, a small crowd formed carrying large signs reading, “No more mutants!”, “Give us our home back!” _

 

_ One turned to Wanda, with a sneer on her face, “You had to be a good person and make us trust mutants, didn’t you? You knew that this would happen eventually. We should have never trusted you!” _

 

_ Wanda didn’t know what to say, too caught up in the woman’s words. She was implying that the people had trusted her, but believed that she had betrayed their trust. But that doesn’t make any sense! How could she possibly know what would happen in the future? _

 

_ More people began to gather despite the mutants telling them hotly to leave before they would be forced to take unpleasant action.  _

 

_ The crowds paid no heed, instead more and more protestors accumulated into a large mass all chanting the same three words, “No more mutants!” _

 


	18. For better or worse, or sometimes a dash of both

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey dudes! Sorry about the long wait, high school along with a lack of motivation has been my bitch, but here is chapter 18! This fic is almost at it's end, damn. This was one of my first fics that I've written here, and I'm proud of how this has turned out. I've also decided not to go through Civil War, Infinity War, and Endgame, because not only would that be an incredibly long amount of chapters to write, but it'd be a waste because her character development from there is pretty much spot on. But I think you'll like the ending I have planned. :)

_ No more mutants.  _

 

_ No more mutants. _

 

_ No more mutants. _

 

Everywhere Wanda went, she found those words. Whether they were furiously chanted on the streets as more crimes that had connections to dangerous mutants were held, or escaped the fast-paced tone of the news reporter that all the Avengers hated-Christine Everhart, or was scrawled in graffiti, along with some crude language that heavily resembled the angry graffiti in Sokovia. 

 

However, throughout the increase of hate towards mutants, the Avengers made sure that Wanda was healing and doing better by insisting she eat delicacies they had purchased, didn’t let her sleep alone no matter how many times she insisted otherwise, and trained as a team and made sure that they left some sort of positive message. 

 

Each Avenger had their own way of leaving some positivity for Wanda to remember, and she’d be the very first to admit that three months after her attempt to leave this hell of a world, she had never felt better in her entire life. She’s not fully there yet, but it’s a long, rocky road to recovery. 

 

She woke up in Clint’s bedroom, with the man sound asleep beside her, causing her to silently giggle, he really did act like a father. Well, he was an actual father, but nevertheless treated her like one of his own and she would forever be grateful for that. She didn’t move away from the comforting touch of Clint’s, letting her eyes flutter back asleep into a blissful blackness. 

 

She woke up again later to find herself alone in the bed with a purple post-it note replacing where Clint was sound asleep, the note has read in a looped handwriting: “Nat wants to spar with me, even though it’s a Saturday, but you know there’s no arguing with her, so I’m going to hopefully not get my ass entirely kicked by her. I just didn’t want you to freak out if you woke up and I was suddenly gone. It’s all one of Thor’s magic tricks I tell ya. :)-Clint.” Wanda chuckled at the man’s diction, sighing softly and once again returning to a dreamless abyss. 

 

...

 

When she woke up, she finds the bed still empty and decided to head down to the living room where the TV played a live stream of a multitude of protestors displaying their hatred to mutants with a variety of signs and chanting crude words. 

 

_ No more mutants.  _

 

_ No more mutants.  _

 

_ No more mutants.  _

 

She froze, and cast her eyes down until the warm voice of Steve Rogers filled the chilly atmosphere as he spoke with a sheepish grin and promising eyes, “Sorry, was meaning to change that a while ago. Come on, breakfast’s ready, and it’s your favorite.”    
  
Wanda’s face quickly turned into a smile as a plate of warm and fluffy pancakes was presented in front of her, and kept the protests in the back of her mind. Right now, all Wanda plans on doing is enjoying the delicacies Steve Rogers has made, and they’re a literal blessing from heaven. She’ll focus on the rest after said deliciousness is finished. 

 

By the time she’s finished with her pancakes, the two assassins of the team stroll inside. She waved a hand to the assassins, doing her very best to hide the smile that continued to grow against her will as she sees how tired and beaten up Clint looks and the amusing smile Natasha wears is most definitely not helping her case. 

 

Clint pretended to be offended retorting, “Go ahead, Wanda, betray me and laugh, I see exactly how it is.” 

 

Wanda shook her head despite her smile growing wider, “I’m not laughing at you! I’m thinking of a funny joke.” 

 

Clint who didn’t buy her story for a damn second replied, “Oh yeah, then what’s the funny joke?”

 

Wanda thought quickly, “How do you make a goldfish age?”

 

Clint leaned forward, this time he wears an amused smile, “I dunno, you tell me.”

 

Wanda replied, “You take out the ‘g’.”

 

Clint leaned back in his chair, “I’ll let it go just this once, now I can make fun of old man Cap.”

 

The rest of the hour was spent with the Avengers cracking jokes at each other as they consumed everything Steve presented onto the table, and by noon, the Avengers looked more like a classic example of domestics, than the title of “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes”.

 

Their passivism doesn’t last long, because a hero’s calling is always their duty. 

  
  


Indigo had struck once again. And she was looking for a fight. 

 

Wanda’s first response was to panic, remembering that Indigo was taking these initiatives because she was inspired and driven so deep in hate because of her. Her breathing rate began to increase as dots threatened to blur her vision. She felt herself about to dive headfirst into a panic attack when a warm and compassionate voice traveled through her ears, “Wanda, hey, you’ve got to calm down. Take a breath, in and out. There you go. In and out. You’re okay, we’re all okay.”

 

Someone, Wanda assumed to be the same person who was speaking gently clasped her hands and began to rub at the skin there continued their soft reassurances speaking, “Wanda, what’s five plus three.”

 

A somewhat shaky voice replied, “Eight.”

 

The voice let out a hum of approval, continuing with another inquiry, “And seven plus seven?”

 

“Fourteen.”

 

“What’s your name?”

 

The shakiness had vanished as the two words were uttered, “Wanda Maximoff.”

 

Wanda instantly relaxed, sending a sheepish smile at Natasha as she lowly muttered, “Thank you.”

 

Natasha waved her off, “It’s fine, she’s not your fault. You’re not telling her to do these things, and don’t even try and tell me that somehow you're her fault. Because it’s not true. Now go suit up, Scarlet Witch.”

 

Within fifteen minutes, the team had assembled onto the Quin-jet, heading to Indigo’s coordinates which read in a warehouse in the Bronx, and were going over a plan. Steve spoke in his Captain-voice, “We don’t know what she’s up to, but we have to be on our guard. And expect everything. We know of her vendetta, and we have an idea of what she’s capable of. No doubt Klaue will be present. Let’s try and take her out this time, and properly. Tony, see what visuals FRIDAY can give you, Vision, and Clint, scour for information, spy and report. Do not take any action unless directly forced into. Try and keep cover until my signal. Hulk, Thor, stay in the jet until my signal. Tony, eyes on the sky. Natasha and Wanda, with me. Copy?”

 

The team let out various murmurs of agreement, along with a small whine of Hulk how he always had to wait on the punching as the Quinjet soundlessly descended onto a rooftop. 

 

Tony spoke through the comms, “Alright team, time to assemble the Avengers. You know your positions and your assignments. Let’s go!” 

 

And with that, the team assembled. 


	19. It's the final countdown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays to those who celebrate it!

_ No more mutants. _

 

_ No more mutants. _

 

_ No more mutants. _

  
  


FRIDAY effortlessly landed the Quinjet on a nearby warehouse and within seconds the team moved out, each taking their positions. Wanda stalked behind Steve, eyes trained for anything that seemed amiss. Her hands remained poised at her sides, ready to attack if necessary. Her throat constricted as she swallowed, she didn’t want to mess up. 

 

Even though she hadn’t done anything, Wanda still felt guilty as she roamed the pitch-black halls of the warehouse, dimly lit by hanging lights that looked like they were mere strings from detaching onto the floor. If Wanda didn’t know better, she would’ve assumed this was the gate to hell. Wanda turned her head away from the gathering people who began to gather and chant the three dreaded words, “No more mutants!” 

 

She shook her head muttering to herself, “Stay focused Wanda, you can’t mess up.” 

 

She couldn’t help but feel guilty that all of this was happening because of her. Indigo rose up because of her, and that was a fact that no one could argue with. What exactly she had done, she had no clue. But this vendetta was putting people, along with her family in danger. Indigo wanted to settle a score, so it would be without harming innocents. 

 

Vision’s voice blared through the comms, “Captain, I detect no one in assigned areas of protocols. Shall I further investigate?” 

 

Steve replied lowly, “Go ahead, but do not directly engage with anyone.” 

 

Wanda didn’t realize Steve had stopped walking, and had to be pulled back by Natasha before accidentally bumping into him. She sheepishly smiled, offering the elder woman an apology who immediately waved it off. Steve quietly gestured the two women to be quiet as they traced the outline of the shadows, leaning against the corridor hall, and that was when Wanda realized the sound of voices.

 

A feminine voice that screamed business spoke, “Don’t worry, the witch and her little friends will be here soon. Don’t you see their jet, and the people have come to put on a show. But don’t worry, we’ll be the ones putting on the show, isn’t that right Wanda Maximoff? I might not see you yet, but I know you’re here, somewhere. Don’t worry, you’ll show yourself. Wasn’t that the plan Captain, split the troops and then converge on my location? It’s a classic ploy, might want to, as they call it, spice it up a bit.”

 

That was when Wanda recognized the German accent. 

 

And so did Steve. 

 

Indigo’s commentary returned, “Ah, I know what you’re thinking. German accent, so some sort of relations to the famous HYDRA, eh? As you attempt your convergence, allow me to empty the silence. I was an employee of HYDRA, made to be the future’s greater soldier. Pathetic. I was only in for the gifts they had to offer. And then I kept quiet to my own little life of simple crime. But when you came into the picture, I was disgusted. To flee HYDRA, for a monster that was bent on destroying all of humanity, and then be on the Avengers? A hero who was originally a villain bent on catastrophic destruction, all within her own home country? How can this be? How can Wanda Maximoff be a hero with all the blood on her hands?”

 

Wanda looked down, unable to not let Indigo’s words get to her head. She felt a hand squeeze her own, and saw Natasha offering a comforting smile. Wanda sent a grateful one in return, focusing on the words of encouragement her family, her new family had given her whenever she felt low. 

 

Indigo continued, “I might be a villain, and I take full credits. Wanda Maximoff does not deserve to live, and I will drag her to Hell with me. So come forth Maximoff, and let’s see what you’re made of, so-called Avenger.” 

 

Steve pressed a finger to his comm, “Iron Man report in, how many people are we dealing with here?”

 

Tony replied, “Scans show Indigo, Klaue, and a few dozen people. I’m going to bet it’s Klaue’s goons. I’ll back whatever play you have, but please tell me you do realize that somewhere along these lines is a trap waiting for us somewhere right?” 

 

Steve nodded although Tony couldn’t see it, “I’m aware. Everyone come to my coordinates. Over.”

...

Once everyone had converged onto their coordinates, the team lurked beneath the shadows, drawing closer to where they assumed Indigo’s voice came from. Steve spoke in a direct and non-negotiable tone, “Stay close and on edge. Engage anyone but Indigo, we don’t know what her play is, and until then do not confront.”

 

Everyone silently nodded and the dysfunctional team crept towards the hallway, preparing themselves for the inevitable fight to come.  

 

Somewhere along their creeping through dimly lit hallways Steve came to a halt and thrust out his hand indicating everyone to remain cautious and tread lightly. Wanda swallowed thicky as she caught a scheming Indigo in her vision. 

 

The blue-haired female was perched upon a metal chair that the witch assumed to resemble a throne. To her left, was Klaue who was toying with some sort of device on his hand. Or, what would have been his hand if Ultron hadn’t chopped it off. 

 

Tony whispered, “That thing that Klaue has, it’s pure vibranium.”

 

Steve replied confidently, “Well, it’s a good thing we have some of our own.”

 

Natasha interrupted, “Shush boys. I’m trying to listen.”

 

Indigo’s voice filled the hallway, “Hmm, Klaue, it looks like we have some highly anticipated guests who should know better than to sneak upon secrecy. After all Romanova, you have an overwhelming amount of secrets, don’t you?” 

 

Before Natasha could let out a snarky comeback, Wanda felt her body shutting down as spots of blue danced around her vision. And then came darkness. 


	20. I am an Avenger!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey dudes! I'm emotional rn, this is the last chapter of this fic. Originally, my plan was to take this fic throughout civil war, infinity war, and end at endgame, but I reconsidered because my original focus was what happened between aou and civil war. But I left off at a spot where i think you guys can connect to the mcu events. This was one of my first major fics that I've ever written, in fact I started in April, and now I'm finished! I can't believe it, thank you guys so much for your support through comments, reads, and kudos! It's the final countdown for Wanda and Indigo!

The last thing Wanda saw was blue dots dotting her vision as her nemesis (?) voice cackled through her head. And then came darkness. 

 

When Wanda’s eyes fluttered open, she was met with a ringing sound echoing in her ears. She frowned slightly, and exhaled softly to rid of the pestering sound. Her frown deepened as she came to the conclusion that she was sprawled across the floor, amongst her teammates. She froze, Indigo. 

 

She looked over at her teammates who were beginning to wake. Steve was the first to come to his senses, and immediately jumped to a stance position, quickly followed by the others. Just as Wanda stood and stretched her limbs, poised to throw surges of scarlet color energy she was already envisioning pulse within her, the sound of obnoxious, hysterical laughter erupted, taking all the heroes by surprise. 

 

The laughter belonged to Indigo, who kicked her feet as she jumped off the throne composed of metallic alloys. She pretended to wipe a tear from her mocha-rich skin and spoke through rows of glittering white teeth, “Oh, this looks like a scene right out of a comic book. All the heroes, or at least, so-called heroes,” making direct eye contact with the mutant who bore the name of the Scarlet Witch. She continued, “All the opposed renegades line up against the face of the enemy, bound by coded morals, and principles that they’re tied to, with consequences of violating said principles. It’s pathetic. To hold yourself to such standards, when the potential for more, for power runs deep within renegadious veins. Petty, and twice as much pathetic. Sickening.”

 

Wanda only looked in confusion, was she making a  _ villain speech? _ Did she make one? She only recalled her first standoff against the Avengers when she bitterly confided against Steve’s patriotic attempt to get them to leave the dark side,  _ oh, we will.  _ Did that count as a monologue? 

 

Natasha sighed, whispering to her brunette friend, “Literally every villain, a whole monologue about why they’re doing this, yadda yadda yadda, blah blah blah. I don’t see why we’re not attacking,  _ Captain. _ ” 

 

The Captain looked like he was trying to understand his enemy’s perspective, and with the tilt of furrowed brows, Wanda could assume he was getting ready to make some sort of patriotic speech. Natasha sighed as she rolled her emerald-filled eyes, “gently” nudging her partner in the ribs, “Let’s get a  move on Captain.”

 

Just as Steve was about to nod, Indigo mimicked a heavy sigh of her own. “I’m sorry Miss Romanova, am I boring you? Well, if a fight is what you seek, then a fight is what you will get. Go on, prove yourselves as the valiant fighters you claim to be.”

 

As if her poisonous words were a venomous cue, a troop of men that Wanda had recognized from her short encounter with Klaue last year, and the mission that involved him emerged from lurking beneath the shadows, fiddling with blades and twirling staff, each with menacing looks scrawled over their oily faces. 

 

There’s a heavy ear-splitting sound that made Wanda’s ears ache. The robotic voice of FRIDAY echoes emotionlessly, “The vibranium Mister Stark.”    
  
Klaue taunts in his dialect, “Ooh, is this a little bit too loud for you? I can lower it for you, if you would like?” Playing his words like a pun, he slams the vibranium weapon onto the ground, emitting high-frequency level sounds that make Wanda’s vision spin. Wanda weakly calls out, “Steve, the shield.”    
  
Steve nods despite the grunt formed over his clenched eyelids, and perfectly flings his shield right through the weapon, splitting the weapon to nothing more than two hunks of metal. Wanda slowly gets up expecting some sort of trick, but Klaue only makes amused eye contact with her, along with an upward twitch of the lip. 

 

And then chaos ensues.  

  
  


Each Avenger engages in a fight of their own. Captain America throws his shield at two knife-wielding henchmen while on his left, the Black Widow effortlessly lunges men over each other, creating a pile of unconscious men as she carefully eyes Klaue, danger lurking in mischief-inflicted irises. Klaue evidently gulps, a twinge of fear courses through him at the assassin who  _ relaxes _ as she runs towards him. Above her, Iron Man blasts men from the bottom, while at the same time Vision confuses men, at the same time knocking them out unconscious. Hawkeye shoots men around the outer circle, living up to his name and legacy as each shot his dead eye. In the meanwhile, the muscle of the group turns to beat up bad guys into a competition, each striving to outrank the other while at the same time sharing quips. And Wanda, she stands unsure of what her initiative should be. Should she fight the men, or confront Indigo, who for some reason hasn’t engaged yet, which doesn’t make any sense to her. She doesn’t get enough time to fully ponder the matter when a duo of men come charging toward her. 

 

This should be easy. She straightens her spine and jut her limbs forward, extending them to their fullest as she mimicked cobweb-like movements with her fingers, stretching them as she envisioned pulses of scarlet emitting throughout the atmosphere, and her fingers project exactly what her mind mimics. The blasts hit the men, sending them flying backward. For some reason, this inflicts more men to challenge her, and they’re met with the same treatment, and with a couple of well-aimed punches and kicks Natasha taught her some weeks ago. Standing back up, her hair flicked behind her, and she turned around, finding herself in a power stance as her hands conform in red energy, poised for whatever decides to challenge her next. Right at that moment, the last henchmen falls unconscious and the only ones that stand left besides the Avengers are a slumped and heavily bruised Klaue and a perched Indigo.

 

Tony draws, “What? Too weak to take on the Avengers, that you’ve for some reason made a vendetta against?”

 

Indigo slowly smiles, “Ah, Mister Stark, you are wrong. For one, one cannot be brave without fear, but that fear is not cowardice towards men who long exaggerated a simple fight. Instead of wasting valuable time and energy on simple humans who rank significantly low to you by fighting them and exerting yourself, why not use your witch to make them all fall unconscious? Did the idea not draw upon your guilt-conscience brains, or were you too eager to get your hands sweaty with conviction? Or, you did not trust the witch to hold her own, or maybe, the fear that she’d turn against you caress your able-minds?” She slowly stands from her throne of metal and chooses her diction carefully as she slowly rises off her feet, “I do not have a vendetta against the Avengers.” She smiles sweetly, and Wanda knows what lies behind that smile, poison. She continues, inching up by the word, “I’m trying to help the Avengers, rid of the infestation that you’ve unknowingly led to your ultimate demise, through corruption. That witch is of HYDRA, as of I, and HYDRA creates monstrous miracles. This one, is weak. A plague worth nothing, not even the weakest cure. She wanted to lead the world to its demise, and you enlist her as a hero? Better yet, an  _ Avenger? _ ”

 

Steve interrupts, “What, you want a spot?”

 

Indigo spits, “I could never align myself with heroes. I am no hero, I am the villain yes, but with a purpose. It makes me sick that a pathetic being who calls herself a witch thinks she can be a hero, she should’ve killed herself when she had the chance.”

 

The team immediately stiffens. 

 

Indigo chuckles, and it’s clearly laced with venom, “Yes, I know about that. But do not fret, Wanda Maximoff, you will join your brother soon enough.” Her tone darkens and her fingers begin to twitch as blue energy forms pulses between outstretched fingers, “This renegade puts all of HYDRA to shame. A convict, who thinks she can outrun her past.” Her voice quickly falls sweet, “Go home Wanda, your children are crying, for everything is  _ burning. _ ” She raises her arms and blue energy surges in a field of pulses that do exactly as intended. 

 

Wanda braces herself, expecting to be hit but slowly shakes as she realizes that Indigo hasn’t hit her.   _ So then what did she hit? _ She turns to her side, and stiffens. The Avengers are each poised with rocky tracings littering them.  _ Covered in stone. _ Wanda bitterly threatens as red energy mimicks Indigo’s, “What did you do to them?”

 

Indigo bitterly laughs, “Oh, nothing. It’s nothing more than a simple hex, powered by willpower. You have so much power Wanda, if only you knew how to use. I’d ask of you to join me, but you are too weak, too naive and sheltered to truly see the world as it is.”

 

Wanda calls, “How do you see the world then? Do enlighten me.”

 

Indigo scoffs, “Far more complex than you could ever imagine.” She emits a pulse of blue, and this time, it hits Wanda square on the chest, sending her flying backward. 

 

Indigo chortles, “The least you could do is fight, Scarlet Witch. Or are you unworthy of the title?”

 

Wanda grunts as she slowly gets back up to her feet, tossing a ball of scarlet that Indigo easily deflects. Wanda furrowed her eyebrows and releases another ball, this time the ball hitting Indigo, but no damage is taken, at least not any visible ones. 

 

Indigo justs her arms out, sending a large field of energy towards Wanda, who throws her arms out in retaliation, and then the hues of blue and red dance around each other, pushing past each other. The blue energy is vicious, cutting any space of red it can find, while the red attempts to draw itself around the blue, protecting the emitter. Wanda frowns, willing herself to conjure more, while Indigo only chuckles, enjoying her opponent’s struggle. 

 

Eventually, the blue manages to overpower the red, and Wanda is sent flying against a wall. As Wanda manages to rise back up, Indigo stretches wisps of blue energy, and the men that her team had just fought wake up from their injury-induced slumber and draw out their weapons as they begin to circulate the young Sokovian. 

 

Wanda raises her arms, ready to defend,  _ but to never attack first. _ Something that Steve had taught her. They were the good guys, no matter what, they did not look for a fight. Yes, they’d bring the fight to their opponents, but they never throw the punch first.  _ “It’s what separates us from them.” _

 

Wanda shifts her weight on her heeled matte boots, “Well?”

 

Indigo mocks in the same manner, “Well, this.” She smirks triumphantly as the men begin to advance towards Wanda, and her own blue psionic energy joins in the assault against Wanda Maximoff. 

 

Wanda instinctivelt raises her arms in front of her, creating a barrier of red maintaining her little space of ground. The men only advance further like mindless drones, and Indigo channels more hate into energy as she throws her energy against Wanda’s barrier, causing a yell of anguish to slip out of the Sokovian’s mouth, as she finds herself pressing herself to hold up the barrier.  _ C’mon Wanda, you can do this.  _

 

Indigo turns to a different form of assault, “You are weak, thinking that Ultron, a mere bot of compromise could give you the satisfaction that you heavily craved. Where did that get you? Hate, the loss of your failed estate of a country, and your brother who you thought you were protecting, dead.”

 

Wanda shut her eyes, trying to block out the decisive words of Indigo. Indigo knows her effect, and continues, “I wonder what that was like? Not being there to witness each bullet penetrate your stupid brother’s body, but to feel each bullet as it grazed your sorry excuse of a body, piercing through skin, muscle, and bone.” She smirked, “And then the heart.” 

 

Wanda shook her head as she felt a stinging sensation erupt from the back of her eyes, “Stop!” She stuttered as her arms tightened, fingers frantically webbing, “You, you don’t know what you’re talking about!” 

 

Indigo had the audacity to chuckle, “Yes, I do. Little witch. Funny how you only decided to join the good side once you saw that you and your brother would be harmed. Would you have changed if your brother and you would become powerful Gods?”

 

Wanda shook her head, “No, stop!”

 

Indigo picked up her pace as more powerful pulses of blue surged towards Wanda, “You think you’re so powerful don’t you? Oh wait, you don’t. And everyone knows that, because mutants like Wanda Maximoff are freaks, in need of locking up, isn’t that true?” 

 

Wanda shook her head, biting her lip so hard she felt the cherry colored warm substance flood her mouth. 

 

Indigo plaused, “Maybe if you weren’t such a power-hungry fool and left HYDRA, we wouldn't be here. Sokovia would still be in one piece, with less poverty and more people alive. Starving, but alive. Because a little bitch decided that she wanted to avenge dearest mother and father. Huh, maybe that’s why the Avengers let you in, because you had the thirst for vengeance. But then they saw your true colors. A weak, sad, bitch.” 

 

More knives began bouncing off her barrier, and Wanda felt herself weakening slowly. 

 

“And maybe, if you were like your brother, people would like you. They wouldn’t chant for the end of mutanthood. They’d see saviors, like the Avengers. Not backstabbing freaks.”

 

Wanda felt her emotions churn as her blood began to boil. Indigo had no right to talk about Pietro like that, her brother was the better half, and he most definitely wasn’t a freak. 

Indigo was on the verge of shrieking as she continued, “Maybe if you were more stronger, you wouldn’t have tried to kill yourself.”

 

Wanda felt rage churn as her vision dotted red. 

  
Indigo pressed, “If you weren’t such a freak, no one would hate you for the sad, sorrowed waste of space, you wouldn’t be such a pathetic person. People wouldn’t be afraid of you, and wish you dead.”

 

Wanda felt herself shake as she felt her power overflowing within her. All she felt was anger, anger towards Indigo, a thirst to get her to stop,  _ to shut her the hell up and show her that she was worth it, that she was worth being an Avenger, and that she wasn’t a monster, she was the Scarlet Witch. _

 

Indigo breathed softly, going for the final blow, “And maybe, if you were better, Pietro wouldn’t be dead and hate you.” 

 

Wanda only saw a burning red. 

 

Wanda gave in to her emotions that were begging to be released. She felt red vapors swivel around her as she levitated, leaving the mindless men stiffened as she felt the urge to yell at Indigo who was slowly rising to meet Wanda. 

 

That’s when Wanda saw press cameras in the corner of her eye, watching her, and probably judging her too. But Wanda didn’t care anymore. She was tired of pleasing the world, pleasing herself. She let her palms tip the fiery, bold, scarlet energy that she became acquainted with and yelled, “While I live, and long past my dying breath, I am an Avenger. I am the Scarlet Witch!” Right after the last syllable echoed her crimson-colored lips, red energy shot out through her palms, and struck Indigo, taking the latter by surprise.    
  
Indigo frowned, “No! You’re supposed to be weak, and stay down! I’ll handle this, petty witch.”

 

It was Wanda’s turn to smirk, “You want to know why they call me the Scarlet Witch?”

 

Indigo scoffed, “Why?”

 

Wanda tilted her head as jets of red energy shot out towards Indigo, “You’ll find out.”

 

And it became a battle of red versus blue all over again. 

 

This time, the red was the furious rage against the desperate blue, that was clawing to inch further, but the red pressed against the blue, and with a final yell and thrust, the red overcame the blue, and hues of both colors collided with Indigo’s chest, sending the girl crashing onto the floor. 

 

Wanda slowly cascaded to the tiled floor with a slight smirk stretched upon her lips, “That’s why.” She stood over Indigo and ordered, “Take your hex off of them.”

 

Indigo spat out blood, “And why the hell would I do that? You’re just a weak…” Her words died as people who were once protesting the Sokovian cheered for, praising her with love and affection. That she was a hero. 

 

Wanda spoke thinly with a hint of sass, “Because you can’t hurt me anymore. Your words mean nothing to me, now release them.” 

 

Indigo chuckled darkly, “I’d rather die.”    
  
Wanda’s hands produced red waves, “I’m up for round two.”

 

Indigo huffed and then stone returned to human. And robot, demi-god, and Hulk. 

 

Steve who was mid-throw flung his shield at what he expected to be a thug but watched in hidden pride as the shield was covered in a red vortex and returned to his magnetic grip. 

 

Natasha looked at her friend and smiled, “I knew you could do it. By the way, we heard every word. You did good Scarlet.”

 

Wanda repeated, “Scarlet?”

 

Natasha’s eyes glistened with amusement, “Well you are the Scarlet Witch.” 

 

Wanda felt her cheeks tint scarlet as she muttered, “Yeah, yeah.”

 

Natasha patted her shoulder as she smacked power-dampening cuffs over Indigo. The redhead smiled triumphantly, “You won’t be a problem anymore.”

...

 

Wanda sighed as she shrugged off her red leather jacket and collapsed onto her bed. She closed her eyes as she felt herself sink right into the plush of the mattress. She felt herself smiling, truly smiling for the first time in what she assumed had to be at least a year. For the first time since Ultron, she felt light. She felt powerful and unstoppable. Sure, she had her limits, but today, she proved herself not only to the world, but to herself. She did good. 

 

She wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, but she heard the voice of her brother speak in her head,  _ I’m so proud of you Wanda. I knew you’d be okay. _

 

The girl giggled and her fingers glowed with red hues, which only encouraged Wanda to giggle more. She was actually happy and accepting of herself. She felt like there was nothing that could go wrong. 

 

And that was how she fell asleep, in what was the most peaceful sleep of her entire life. 

 

She was woken up by Natasha’s calm voice, “Wake up Wanda. Suit up, we’ve got a lead on Rumlow, you, me, Sam, and Steve. Let’s go.”

 

Wanda groggily asked, “Where are we going?”

 

Natasha answered with finality, “Lagos, Nigeria. C’mon, let’s go.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I'd really like to thank all of you for reading, commenting, and giving kudos, and putting up with my inconsistent posting schedule. Thank you so much, you guys! I wouldn't have been able to continue this without your continuous support! Please leave some feedback for how you felt about this fic, favorite parts/least, any ways of improvement, anything and everything. Also, I am starting a fic in this same series (Avengers redemption) about Natasha! I mentioned in the earlier chapters about her, and she's the next character to get a fic like this, and I hope I'll see you guys there? Peace out- Sarah!


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